The recent token launch of Starknet, a layer-2 network on Ethereum, has encountered a significant decrease in value as Ethereum infrastructure company Nethermind and recipients of the airdrop sold off substantial amounts of the distributed tokens.
Starknet’s (STRK) value has plummeted by close to 60%, trading at under $1.90 from its peak of $4.41 on Feb. 20, when it was distributed to certain users of the blockchain, according to data from CoinGecko.
Following its listing on Binance, STRK reached a high of $7.70 but has since plummeted by 75.4% to below $1.90.
The price of $STRK has been falling since its launch.
We noticed that #Nethermind has sold a total of 3.41M $STRK($6.74M) at $1.98 so far.#Nethermind still holds 6.74M $STRK($12.33M), and the selling may continue.https://t.co/EUvVeHvyCY pic.twitter.com/RiFFiZXQRt
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 22, 2024
Blockchain analysts at Lookonchain noted in a Feb. 22 post that the price of $STRK has been on the decline since its inception. They revealed that Nethermind sold 3.41 million STRK, valued at over $6.7 million, and cautioned that further selling might occur as the firm still holds over $12 million worth of the token.
The price of $STRK has been falling since its launch.
We noticed that #Nethermind has sold a total of 3.41M $STRK($6.74M) at $1.98 so far.#Nethermind still holds 6.74M $STRK($12.33M), and the selling may continue.https://t.co/EUvVeHvyCY pic.twitter.com/RiFFiZXQRt
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 22, 2024
Earlier, Lookonchain reported another instance of a STRK airdrop participant consolidating wallets, with 1.2 million STRK, worth $2.4 million, moving from approximately 1,800 separate wallets to a single address.
On Feb. 21, Lookonchain identified a similar case where nearly 1,400 wallets transferred 1.4 million airdropped STRK, valued at about $3 million, to a single address.
Another airdrop hunter also received 1.22M $STRK($2.4M) via ~1.8K wallets.https://t.co/MCkUjWGFijhttps://t.co/LMR3FIDCGJ pic.twitter.com/Xzh80FF5lH
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 21, 2024
Ahead of Starknet’s airdrop, developer Banteg from Yearn.finance alleged that over 700,000 wallets out of 1.3 million eligible for the STRK airdrop were associated with GitHub accounts controlled by airdrop participants.
The STRK airdrop also faced criticism from Starknet users who claimed they were ineligible for the distribution despite conducting transactions worth thousands of dollars. Eligibility criteria required users to have held at least 0.005 Ether, approximately $10, at the time of a snapshot on Nov. 15, 2023.
Additionally, some individuals raised concerns about STRK’s unlock schedule, which rewards Starknet investors and contributors with 1.3 billion STRK, equivalent to 13% of the supply, around two months after the launch.
Despite the decline in STRK’s price, Starknet’s total value locked has increased to $73.5 million, marking a nearly 30% surge in 24 hours, according to DefiLlama.