StarkWare revises STRK token unlock plan after community backlash

StarkWare, the company behind the layer-2 Ethereum scaler Starknet, has announced a revision to the unlock schedule for its STRK token, affecting early contributors and investors.

The decision comes after the initial plan to unlock a significant portion of tokens in April faced backlash from the crypto community. StarkWare’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Eli Ben-Sasson, said in an X (formerly Twitter) post that the company has listened to concerns about long-term alignment with the Starknet ecosystem and is committed to earning the community’s trust through actions.

The revised schedule will now see a more gradual release of tokens, with 64 million (0.64%) unlocking on April 15, 2024, and continuing monthly at the same rate until March 15, 2025. After this period, the pace will increase to 1.27% monthly for 24 months, concluding on March 15, 2027.

This change reduces the number of tokens to be unlocked by the end of 2024 to 580 million, compared to the 2 billion initially planned. The STRK token, which is traded on various cryptocurrency exchanges, experienced a price increase following the announcement, indicating a positive market response to the revised schedule.

STRK traded at US$1.92 at 11:40 a.m. ET, up 4.5% in 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.

The initial unlock plan involved releasing 1.3 billion STRK tokens, about 13% of the total supply, which raised concerns about potential price impacts. Starknet users and the broader crypto community expressed fears that such a large unlock could devalue the token.

Starknet began airdropping its tokens to nearly 1.3 million eligible wallets. However, the token’s price experienced a sharp decline shortly after, dropping 55% from its average peak price of US$4.41 on launch day, CoinGecko data shows.