Starknet plans to allocate 50 million STRK to contributors. Who is eligible to apply?

Author: BlockBeats

On October 31, Starknet announced the launch of the Early Community Member Program (ECMP), aimed at recognizing community contributors who have contributed to Starknet so far, and plans to allocate 50 million STRK tokens to those who contributed in the early stages of the network. This includes rewards for individuals who encourage technical discussions, organize Starknet-related events, and regularly publish Starknet branded content. It is reported that individuals and projects will need to apply for grants and provide details of their contributions, with the application window open until 8:00 on November 23, 2023, and final decisions to be made on December 29.

Not open to U.S. users, the foundation reserves the right to lock tokens

Starknet has minted 10 billion STRK tokens, but they are still in a locked state. These tokens will be unlocked on April 15, 2024, with the majority allocated to the Starknet Foundation, 32.9% to core contributors, and 17% to investors. The ECMP program launched this time is part of the token allocation plan for the foundation.

In Starknet's official introduction, it is pointed out that in the first phase of ECMP, the program will allocate tokens to the following categories of people: individuals who have made significant contributions to community technical discussions, individual contributors listed by ecosystem focus projects, individuals who organize events around the world (meetups, conferences, workshops), and individuals who regularly publish Starknet branded content.

The review criteria for the program include four key metrics: impact, importance, effort, and originality.

Impact refers to the extent to which the contributor's work is disseminated throughout the community. This may include the number of people using or relying on their code, engaging with their content, or following their thought leadership; Importance refers to assessing the significance of the contributor's work within the community or a specific project. This may mean focusing on the importance of an individual's work to the project's success or their influence on shaping the direction and development of the ecosystem; The effort metric evaluates the time and energy the contributor has invested in their contributions. This may include not only coding but also community support, mentoring, and collaborating with others to share knowledge; Originality refers to how unique or innovative the contributor's work is. This can include creating new algorithms, methods, or tools that have never been seen before, or solving existing problems in novel ways.

Projects participating in the application will receive a private message to submit a private application, which needs to include their Telegram ID and email. All contributors of the project will receive the same amount of tokens after passing the review (without being individually assessed); individuals participating in the application can submit their applications through the same link.

In addition, projects eligible for the Early Adopter Grant (EAG) are automatically eligible for ECMP, and they do not need to apply again. After the first phase is completed, the committee will review it and may process a second batch with additional criteria. It is worth noting that the ECMP program is not open to U.S. users, and the foundation reserves the right to impose a lock on any tokens delivered to qualified recipients.

Previously, Starknet planned to use STRK as a fee payment token

Recently, there have been frequent events related to Starknet, and some commentators suggest that Starknet may have further significant moves ahead.

On October 24, BlockBeats reported that Starknet community leader Ohad Barta posted a new proposal on the official governance forum, proposing to use the newly introduced V3 transactions to pay fees in STRK (i.e., accounts must have a STRK balance). The old version of transactions will still be supported, continuing to use ETH for fee payments. The intent of the proposal is outlined as: to use the native token STRK as a fee payment token on Starknet, as one of its primary uses.

On the same day, the LambdaClass team, which previously helped Starknet complete V12 and develop cairoVM, announced a new strategic partnership with Starknet's competitor zkSync.

Related Reading: “Why did LambdaClass, a long-term partner, part ways with Starknet and switch to zkSync?” Although LambdaClass officially announced its partnership with zkSync today, as early as August 3, LambdaClass published an article titled “The Future of LambdaClass and the Starknet Foundation” indicating the end of its collaboration with Starknet.

The launch of Starknet's ECMP program may again become a key target for new rounds of "yield farming," but Starknet has not defined this token allocation as an airdrop, perhaps indicating that Starknet hopes to provide tangible encouragement to true contributors.