Are Users Really Boycotting Starknet (STRK) After Controversial Airdrop?

Starknet recently announced a significant airdrop of 700 million STRK tokens to early contributors and users, sparking mixed reactions within the community.

Starknet, set to launch its airdrop portal at 7:00 PM today on February 20, 2024 (Vietnam time), just before listing on major exchanges including Binance, has seen a notable decline in activity and transaction volumes leading up to the airdrop.

However, alongside eager anticipation, some participants have voiced frustration with Starknet's distribution criteria. Critics have denounced the project for what they perceive as overly lenient conditions favoring developers. Even basic tasks like spell-checking reportedly qualify for rewards of up to 1,800 tokens.

Since the announcement, Starknet's network activity has faltered significantly. From a peak of 386,000 active wallets on July 28, 2023, daily active addresses have plummeted to fewer than 25,000, as per Starkscan data.

Wallet activity on Starknet has dropped nearly 90% compared to the previous week. Source: Starkscan

Transaction volumes have mirrored this decline. February 14, 2024, saw peak trading activity of $122 million, but this figure halved to under $61 million the following day.

Transaction volume on Starknet from January 22, 2024, to present. Source: Starkscan

Despite these declines, Starknet's Total Value Locked (TVL) remains unchanged, currently securing $71 million in assets. While discontent over the airdrop criteria is evident, it appears that widespread abandonment of the protocol has not materialized.

Total Value Locked (TVL) on Starknet. Source: Defi Llama

Another contentious issue stemming from Starknet's airdrop announcement is the scheduled unlocking of 13% of the STRK token supply for developers and investors in April 2024, a mere two months after the airdrop event. This sizable portion, potentially valued at over $2.15 billion, could exert significant selling pressure.

In a recent interview, StarkWare CEO, the development entity behind Starknet, acknowledged the unique nature of their token allocation strategy compared to other projects but affirmed their commitment to the established plan.

In response to Starknet's airdrop criteria, numerous users have mobilized to "spam" GitHub channels of projects yet to release tokens, including LayerZero, zkSync, and Scroll, over the past week.