What is Starknet?

Introduction
Starknet is a Validity Rollup Layer 2. It provides high throughput, low gas costs, and retains Ethereum Layer 1 levels of security

Given a sudoku puzzle, verifying a solution is easier than solving from scratch. If our goal is to convince people of the statement “this puzzle has been solved”, we can save a lot of computation by having one person compute a solution and then propagate it for others to verify. In this strategy, each computation of a solution becomes a one-time event which does not require replication by society. In a similar vein, Starknet scales Ethereum by replacing heavy L1 computation with lighter (hence cheaper!) L1 verification using STARK proofs computed off-chain.

How it works

With the above analogy in mind, the time is ripe for some jargon. Starknet is a permissionless Validity-Rollup (also known as a “ZK-Rollup”) that supports general computation and currently operates in production as an L2 network over Ethereum. The eventual L1 security of Starknet is ensured by its use of the safest and most scalable cryptographic proof system – STARK.

Starknet contracts are (for the most part) written in the Cairo language – A Turing complete programming language designed for STARK proofs.

Starknet to hand out 50 million STRK tokens to early ecosystem contributors

The Starknet Foundation is allocating 50 million of its yet-to-be-released STRK tokens to early ecosystem contributors.

Called the Early Community Member Program, it will reward individual contributors who encouraged technical discussion, organized Starknet-related events and regularly published Starknet-branded content, according to a blog post.

Individuals and projects will need to apply for the grant, providing details of their contributions.

"We intend to use this opportunity and give recognition to individuals that contributed significantly to the Starknet ecosystem in various ways. Such contribution involves being a key member of an effort which hugely, and positively, impacts the ecosystem," the Starknet Foundation said in the blog post.

The foundation added that it will hold back some of the tokens in case it misses out on contributors. The program won't be available in the U.S. or to U.S. citizens.

When token unlocks?
Ten billion Starknet tokens have been minted but they have not yet been made available to token holders.

These tokens should be made available on April 15, 2024. The majority of the tokens were allocated to the Starknet Foundation, while 32.9% was allocated to core contributors and 17% to investors. The ECMP program is part of the plan to distribute tokens that were allocated to the foundation. Starknet said it is not defining this distribution of tokens as an airdrop.

Starknet is a permissionless Layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum. It uses zk-STARKs (zero-knowledge succinct argument of knowledge) proofs to achieve high throughput and low gas costs while maintaining the security of the Ethereum mainnet.

https://community.starknet.io/t/announcing-the-early-community-member-program/102092