Starkware co-founders respond to STRK unlocking controversy: The team will focus on long-term network development and unnecessary delay of lock-up period is not the correct approach.

According to BlockBeats news on February 15th, Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder and CEO of Starkware, emphasized the roadmap of Starknet and explained why he believed that the release of a large number of investor and early contributor shares during the initial launch of STRK would not harm the community in an interview with Decrypt. Ben-Sasson stated that the structure of the Starknet airdrop is indeed different from traditional models, and the team's perspective on things is also slightly different, but they believe that this is an advantage rather than a disadvantage for Starkware. The team believes that users are concerned about whether developers will still be on the Starknet network in three months or a year and whether they will continue to drive network development. He can assure that Starkware's 150 employees and its expanding team are solely focused on driving the development of Starknet. To do this, Eli has rejected highly attractive academic positions. Regarding concerns that investors may rush to sell STRK tokens in April, thereby affecting the price of STRK, Ben-Sasson emphasized that extending the token lock-up period cannot prevent this from happening, and this concern may also occur in a year. Starkware made this decision because they believed that these people received the rewards they deserved for their contributions, and there was no improper use of the airdrop structure by individuals or teams. Unnecessary delay in the lock-up period is not the right approach when focusing on long-term development. It is reported that on April 15th, less than two months after the launch of STRK, over 1.3 billion STRK tokens (13.1% of the total supply of STRK tokens) allocated to investors and early Starknet contributors will be unlocked for transfer and sale. This amount is estimated to be over $2.15 billion according to futures trading prices.