Starknet’s 700 million STRK token airdrop launched Tuesday, February 20th. Over 400 million tokens were claimed within hours. Concerns over “airdrop hunters” and fairness marred the excitement of Starknet’s airdrop.
Starknet’s STRK token plummeted from a $7 launch on Binance to $1.89, raising concerns from holders and investors. Despite the promising start, the token’s value has decreased by 19.66% over the past day. With a market cap of $1,373,162,136, STRK currently ranks #55 in market capitalization. Additionally, the token has seen substantial trading volume, with $1,787,548,852 transactions recorded in the past 24 hours.
STRK price chart: CoinMarkertCap
STRK Token Airdrop Allocation and Controversy
However, the excitement surrounding the airdrop was quickly overshadowed by controversy and criticism. Despite prior warnings, accusations emerged from within the community alleging that Starknet developers had included “airdrop hunters” in the eligibility list. These individuals, known for seeking to profit by claiming tokens across multiple addresses, raised legitimate concerns about fairness, as well as the integrity and security of the distribution process.
In one distressing example, Blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain reported a case where a single user received 1.43 million STRK tokens (approximately $3 million) through 1,361 separate wallets. This raises raising further concerns about manipulation of the process. The incident highlights the potential opportunities for individuals to exploit loopholes in the eligibility criteria. It also draws into question Starknet’s security processes and whether or not they are a top priority for the layer-2 network.
Rekt Fencer, a prominent crypto insider, shared a post revealing that an individual received a 10k STRK token airdrop for developing a program aimed at “sybiling” Starknet and sharing it on GitHub.
“Guy wrote a script to sybil Starknet, shared it on GitHub, and got a 10k $STRK airdrop for his efforts. Peak crypto? “
– Rekt Fencer (@rektfencer)
Despite the STRK controversy, the network’s token airdrop attracted significant interest, with the TVL reaching $58.14 million and the 24-hour trading volume exceeding $48 million. The protocol’s diluted market capitalization has surpassed $20 billion, reflecting strong investor confidence in the project.