this is just a money-grab, ardor doesn't go online for more than 365 days, why do you need to do this now? This should be done in the few months in advance instead.
Snapshotting starts in July, so the announcement needs to be done early.
July, thats next month. Why so soon? If the project doesn't launch for a year then shouldn't you guys be doing a snapshot a few weeks before launch? That way it gives everyone a chance to stock up on some Next? Doing it that quickly will just pump the price of next. My guess is the insiders need some cash and what better way then to pump the price of their pre-mined tokens.. scam.
Yes, it does pump the price of Nxt. Is there anything wrong with that?
It's a simple supply and demand issue. Anyone can see how long the roadmap is, and plan accordingly. It's in the OP, should you have missed it.
There is a three month period where people can or cannot accumulate to get Ardor tokens, and then another period where they can trade them as they wish.
We specifically do not go for the ICO model, as that would most definitely be a money grab, and also not do justice to the people who have bought and held Nxt for over 2,5 years.
On the cash needed: throughout the discussions about this release, we've always been very open that funding is needed for a sustainable system. Instead of an ICO, which has considerable drawbacks as a method, this is considered to be a method of raising such funds by actually raising the price of the token, which benefits everyone who holds Nxt, not just the people developing it.