The Starknet Foundation has announced its intention to allocate approximately 50 million STRK tokens as part of its Early Community Member Program (ECMP).
This initiative, unveiled on October 30, is designed to reward and motivate the individuals who played a pivotal role in developing the Starknet ecosystem.
Straknet Foundation’s ECMP Program
In a significant move to reward and motivate early contributors to the ecosystem, the Starknet Foundation has announced the allocation of approximately 50 million STRK tokens as part of its ECMP program.
In an October 30 blog post, the foundation outlined the criteria for distributing STRK tokens under the ECMP. The program aims to reward individuals who have made significant technological contributions, actively participated in crucial ecosystem projects, organized events, and consistently shared content related to Starknet.
The registration process for potential recipients will be open until November 19, with the final list expected to be announced by December 29.
The Starknet Foundation, established in November 2022 by the same team behind renowned StarkWare, had an initial minting of 10 billion STRK tokens. Despite this, the project has kept its tokens non-tradable, with transfers expected to remain locked until at least April of the following year.
The foundation currently holds a large portion of the original token supply, amounting to approximately 5 billion STRK tokens, or 50.1% of the total supply. As these tokens have yet to be listed on exchanges, the exact valuation of this asset remains uncertain.
Until these tokens become tradable, the anticipated reward funds are expected to assist Starknet in nurturing and growing its community.
Starknet Ranks 6th in Layer 2 Blockchain Space
Starknet Foundation expressed gratitude to the community in a blog post, stating, “Starknet Foundation acknowledges the crucial role of the Starknet community.” According to L2Beat data, Starknet is currently the sixth-largest Layer 2 blockchain with a Total Value Locked (TVL) of approximately $143 million.
The organization is governed by a council of seven members, including Eli Ben-Sasson, the Co-Founder and Chairman of StarkWare. Starknet Foundation’s mission is to promote the Starknet community, consisting of users, developers, and researchers, while continually monitoring the network’s growth.
The initial token supply of 10 billion tokens was minted off-chain by StarkWare. Of this supply, approximately 17% was allocated to investors, 32.9% to “core contributors,” which includes StarkWare employees and advisors, and the largest share of 50.1% was designated to Starknet Foundation.
Meanwhile, other Layer 2 competitors, such as Arbitrum and Optimism, have also implemented community incentive programs.