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Starknet made news this week for announcing what will be the largest initial airdrop by number of eligible addresses ever. But it faced heavy criticism online for many of the details of the airdrop, from the fact that Ethereum solo takers received almost 22% of the distribution to eligibility requirements that users held at least 0.005 ETH in their wallets as of Nov. 15, 2023 to the fact that the token generation event took place almost two years before the unlock date.

Starkware CEO Eli Ben-Sasson joined Unchained to respond to the multiple critiques of the airdrop and discuss why he and the Starknet Foundation decided on the details that they did.  

Show highlights:

• What the airdrop criteria was and why they decided to make it that way
• Why they allocated so much $STRK to Ethereum solo stakers
• Eli’s response to the criticism about how little Starknet network participants got in the airdrop
• Why the STRK Token Generation Event (TGE) was done in 2022, only to be airdropped two years later
• Why Eli believes that even if the unlock of tokens is in two months, it does not indicate misalignment of incentives
• Whether Eli will sell his tokens when they become unvested

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Popcorn Network
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• Polkadot

Guest

• Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO of Starkware

Links

• Recent coverage of Unchained on airdrops: Jupiter Founder Meow to Critics of JUP Airdrop: ‘Give Me a Break’
• Unchained: 
• Starknet’s Airdrop Plan Sparks Some Praise but Also Outrage
• Starknet’s First Token Distribution Will Be Available to Nearly 1.3 Million Addresses
• The Defiant: Starknet Faces Backlash Over Airdrop and Team Unlocks
• Loomdart’s tweet on the TGE

Learn more:

• Do You Have to Pay Taxes on a Crypto Airdrop?
• What Is a Crypto Airdrop? A Beginner's Guide 

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