StarkWare

Starknet to hand 10% of network fees to devs, with $3.5M in first distribution

The Devonomics initiative from the Starknet Foundation aims to return a portion of network fees to incentivize developers.

Layer-2 network StarkWare and the Starknet Foundation are set to distribute a 10% cut of network fees to developers, a part of a pilot program called “Devonomics.” 

In an announcement shared with Cointelegraph on Dec. 12, StarkWare CEO Uri Kolodny said it was allocating a portion of the network fees, provisionally 8%, to decentralized app builders and 2% to infrastructure engineers and core developers through a transparent and open voting process.

“It’s all about giving the hands-on builders a strong voice in shaping the network,” explained Kolodny.

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Starknet token distribution not yet finalized, despite speculation over portal screenshots

The Starknet Foundation is warning community members to be on the lookout for scams relating to circulating screenshots of early iterations of a token distribution portal.

The Starknet Foundation has moved quickly to quash speculation around screenshots of early iterations of a distribution portal for the upcoming launch of its native SRTK ecosystem token.

Information shared with Cointelegraph ahead of an announcement on X (formerly Twitter) outlined that the Foundation is still developing plans to distribute the token to certain users, contributors, and investors. The Ethereum layer 2 scaling network previously outlined initial plans for the Starknet token design in July 2022.

Screenshots disseminated online have been labeled “draft plans that are still under development.” A spokesperson from StarkWare told Cointelegraph that details of official criteria and the provision mechanism of STRK tokens will be shared once the company has finalized them:

“The cut-off for any criteria used to determine who may receive tokens or how many tokens is in the past, and no actions or activity now can impact eligibility in any way.”

The company also stressed that community members should be acutely aware of scams that will look to take advantage of any uncertainty around the STRK token distribution.

Related: Ethereum L2 Starknet aims to decentralize core components of its scaling network

A number of different X users reposted screenshots of the early iterations of the Starknet token provisions portal and further information that alluded to certain requirements to receive STRK tokens.

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Starknet token distribution not yet finalized despite speculation over portal screenshots

The Starknet Foundation is warning community members to be on the lookout for scams relating to circulating screenshots of early iterations of a token distribution portal.

The Starknet Foundation has moved quickly to quash speculation around screenshots of early iterations of a distribution portal for the upcoming launch of its native STRK ecosystem token.

Information shared with Cointelegraph ahead of an announcement on X (formerly Twitter) outlined that the foundation is still developing plans to distribute the token to certain users, contributors and investors. The Ethereum layer-2 scaling network previously outlined initial plans for the Starknet token design in July 2022.

Screenshots disseminated online have been labeled “draft plans that are still under development.” A spokesperson from StarkWare told Cointelegraph that details of the official criteria and the provision mechanism for STRK tokens will be shared once the company has finalized them:

“The cut-off for any criteria used to determine who may receive tokens or how many tokens is in the past, and no actions or activity now can impact eligibility in any way.”

The company also stressed that community members should be acutely aware of scams that will look to take advantage of any uncertainty around the STRK token distribution.

Related: Ethereum L2 Starknet aims to decentralize core components of its scaling network

A number of different X users reposted screenshots of the early iterations of the Starknet token provisions portal and further information that alluded to certain requirements to receive STRK tokens.

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Chainlink oracle, data feeds coming to StarkNet ecosystem

StarkWare is set to partner with Chainlink Labs to integrate oracle services and data feeds to the StarkNet testnet.

Blockchain scaling technology firm StarkWare is set to partner with Chainlink Labs to bring oracle services, data and price feeds to the StarkNet ecosystem.

The coalition will see StarkWare join Chainlink’s Scale program and brings Chainlink price feeds to StarkNet’s testnet. StarkNet tokens will also fund certain operating costs for Chainlink oracle nodes, giving Starket developers access to Chainlink oracle services and data feeds.

Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network that enables smart contracts to securely access off-chain data sources, APIs and payment systems. It allows smart contracts to interact with real-world data and events, making it possible for them to be triggered by data from external sources.

The network features independent nodes that provide secure and reliable data to smart contracts, incentivized by payment in Chainlink’s native LINK token. Node operators verify and perform data computations, which ensures accurate and reliable data is delivered to smart contracts.

Related: StarkNet overhauls Cairo programming language to drive developer adoption

An announcement from StarWare highlights the establishment of a sustainable economic system between StarkNet and Chainlink. The integration is also expected to provide the necessary infrastructure for StarkNet developers to build “highly performant, increasingly complex, and secure smart contract applications.“

StarkWare product manager and researcher Ohad Barta told Cointelegraph that work to introduce Chainlink’s oracle services to StarkNet has been ongoing since June 2022. Various oracle services will be integrated into StarkNet, according to Barta, highlighting the benefit of diversity in smaller and larger oracles serving the network:

“Oracles are an essential component, they are relevant in many use cases. A lot of applications need to know the price of assets or NFTs. Oracles are like a complete toolkit.”

Barta also believes that the reputation of Chainlink’s services within the Ethereum ecosystem is another major reason for the integration with StarkNet:

“The main benefit is any application or startup can integrate with Chainlink price feeds and know it will be accurate and have some peace of mind when they are building their product.”

A statement from Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov highlighted the partnership’s potential in Chainlink oracle networks operating at high speeds and low costs for Starknet users and developers:

“By reducing the operating costs of oracle nodes, StarkNet is able to accelerate its ecosystem’s growth and become a more attractive environment for building scalable DApps in the Web3 ecosystem.”

Chainlink data feeds are live on StarkNet’s testnet, with a mainnet integration expected in the coming months. Cointelegraph is currently covering StarkWare Sessions in Tel Aviv, Israel, where the company announced that it would make its proprietary Starknet Prover open source. The prover is the engine that StarkWare uses in its zero-knowledge roll-up technology.

StarkNet makes Cairo 1.0 open source in first step toward community control

StarkNet has prioritized scalability over composability and transparency. But it’s now working on making its tech open-source.

Zero-knowledge (ZK)-Rollup tech company StarkWare has officially open-sourced its new programming language compiler, Cairo 1.0, which will soon be supported on Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution StarkNet in Q1 2023. 

The news was announced by StarkWare — the company behind StarkNet — in a Nov. 25 Twitter post. StarkWare’s roll-up technology and recursive proofs offer the potential to compress millions of transactions on L2 into a single transaction on Ethereum. However, the project has been criticized for maintaining control over its IP, not least of all by its more open source-focused competitor zkSync.

StarkWare described open-sourcing Cairo as a “milestone move” in its quest to hand over more control and intellectual property rights to its community and developers. Cairo is a programming language written specifically to harness the power of zk-Rollups and validity proofs.

StarkWare stated that developers can now experiment with Cairo 1.0 by compiling and executing simple applications until it is fully supported on StarkNet in Q1 2023.

At that point, Cairo 1.0 will enable faster feature development and allow for more community involvement, according to Starkware Exploration Lead and former Ethereum core developer Abdelhamid Bakhta.

“We’re continuing to open source the StarkNet tech stack, beginning with Cairo 1.0. We’re doing this in order to fulfill StarkNet’s vision as a public good that anyone can use, and that the community can constantly improve,” he said:

“On a practical level this maximizes transparency about our code, and our coding process. And it strengthens the community’s ability to find bugs and improve the compiler. With each aspect of the tech stack that is open sourced, this sense of community involvement will grow and grow.”

Once in production, Cairo 1.0 will also enable blockchain developers to write and deploy smart contracts to StarkNet, according to StarkWare’s Medium post.

StarkWare added that because Cairo 1.0 makes every computation “provable,” StarkNet’s censorship resistance properties will be strengthened and it’ll also be better positioned to respond to denial-of-service attacks.

StarkWare’s STARK tech stack powers a number of Web3 projects including decentralized exchange (DEX) platform dYdX (although this is moving to its own chain on Cosmos), nonfungible token (NFT) platform Immutable X and blockchain interoperability protocol Celer Network.

Related: 60 million NFTs could be minted in a single transaction — StarkWare co-founder

StarkNet has taken a gamble by using Cairo to speed up its solution, which is not natively compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). However, Ethereum software tooling firm Nethermind built a transpiler called Warp that converts Solidity code into Cairo code.

Competitor zkSync’s EVM-compatible mainnet is in the process of being launched.

But, despite taking a more difficult path, StarkWare founder Eli Ben-Sasson recently told Cointelegraph that using custom-built programming language like Cairo, as opposed to Solidity, was the only viable way to take full advantage of Ethereum scaling afforded by zk-Rollups:

“I’m willing to bet that you won’t see a full blown ZK EVM that can put a million transactions inside a single proof on Ethereum. As we can easily do today and have been doing for months and years.”

The news comes as Starkware also recently deployed the new StarkNet token (STRK) on Ethereum on Nov. 17, which will be used for staking and voting purposes in addition to paying fees on the network.

L2 is crucial to Ethereum decentralization, censorship resistance, says researcher

Swedish researcher Eric Wall highlighted StarkNet’s influence on Ethereum’s scalability as he joins the board of the newly formed StarkNet Foundation.

Ethereum layer-2 scaling platform StarkWare has officially launched the StarkNet Foundation with the introduction of a diverse board that aims to safeguard Ethereum’s decentralization and censorship resistance.

Seven individuals, including key members from the Ethereum ecosystem and wider cryptocurrency space, will head up the nonprofit entity. An announcement shared with Cointelegraph outlined the role of the StarkNet Foundation in ensuring the maintenance and security of StarkNet’s network as well as its development and expansion.

Cointelegraph reached out to Eric Wall to unpack his appointment to the foundation’s board. Wall is a blockchain researcher and whistleblower who has exposed systemic flaws in high-profile cryptocurrency projects. Wall also acts as an adviser on cryptocurrency to the Human Rights Foundation.

Wall highlighted systemic efforts to help Ethereum continue scaling through layer-2 innovations as key to the ongoing success of the smart contract blockchain network:

“Since Ethereum is the most important DeFi chain we have, I care a lot about making sure that it sticks to the ethos of decentralization and censorship resistance. This battle is fought at the baselayer, but must also be fought at the layers above.”

Wall told Cointelegraph that his motivation to join the foundation was to ensure that “one of Ethereum’s most important second layers” did not neglect the ethos of the underlying blockchain:

“StarkWare is probably the most important player in the ecosystem in pioneering validity proof systems that many believe are absolutely central to Ethereum’s scalability endgame, and StarkNet is the general-purpose platform leveraging that technology”

Wall highlighted the foundation’s role in managing relationships with ecosystem partners and developers as well as allocating grants. This includes ensuring partnerships are in the best interest of StarkNet users and are aligned with “the fundamental ethos of neutral open-source engineering.”

The foundation will also focus on StarkNet technology education to help developers learn how to build decentralized applications (DApps) using StarkWare’s proprietary STARKs (Scalable, Transparent ARgument of Knowledge) proof system.

Related: StarkWare nets $100M as investors bank on layer-2 success

The foundation’s board also includes StarkWare’s co-founder and CEO, Uri Kolodny, and its president, co-founder and computer scientist, Eli Ben-Sasson. Computer scientist and StarkNet adviser Shubhangi Saraf, blockchain developer and Nethermind founder Tomasz Stańczak, former United States Deputy Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin and award-winning lawyer Heather Meeker make up the rest of the leadership group.

As previously reported, StarkNet is a decentralized layer-2 validity rollup that aims to scale the Ethereum network while maintaining its security and decentralization. It addresses what is known as the “blockchain trilemma,” coined by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

The StarkNet Foundation will manage 50.1% of the ecosystem’s initial token supply to guide the network’s allocation of resources. The funds will be used to support StarkNet’s community of users, developers and researchers, which contribute to the ecosystem by creating infrastructure, tools and applications.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shares vision for layer-3 protocols

While layer-2 protocols have been focused on “scalability,” layer-3 protocols would serve a much different purpose, says Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

While Ethereum-based layer-2 solutions have been focused on hyperscaling the network, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin believes layer 3s will serve a far different purpose — providing “customized functionality.” 

Buterin shared his thoughts in a Saturday post, providing three “visions” of what layer 3s will be used for in the future.

The Ethereum co-founder said a third layer on the blockchain makes sense only if it provides a different function to layer 2s, which have been used mainly to enhance scaling via zero-knowledge (zk) Rollup technology:

“A three-layer scaling architecture that consists of stacking the same scaling scheme on top of itself generally does not work well. Rollups on top of rollups, where the two layers of rollups use the same technology, certainly do not.”

But, “a three-layer architecture where the second layer and third layer have different purposes, however, can work,” said Buterin.

One of layer 3’s use cases would be what Buterin describes as “customized functionality” — referencing privacy-based applications which would utilize zk proofs to submit privacy-preserving transactions to layer 2.

Another use case would be “customized scaling” for specialized applications that don’t want to use the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to do computation.

Buterin also said that layer 3 could be used for “weakly-trusted” scaling through Validiums, a zk-proof technology. Buterin said this may be beneficial for “enterprise blockchain” applications by using “a centralized server that runs a validium prover and regularly commits hashes to chain.”

But, Buterin added that it’s still unclear whether layer-3 structures will be more efficient than the current layer-2 model when it comes to building customized applications on Ethereum.

Layer-2 Vs Layer-3 Network Architecture. Source: StarkWare.

Related: A beginner’s guide to understanding the layers of blockchain technology

“One possible argument for the three-layer model over the two-layer model is: a three-layer model allows an entire sub-ecosystem to exist within a single rollup, which allows cross-domain operations within that ecosystem to happen very cheaply, without needing to go through the expensive layer 1,” Buterin said.

But, Buterin said that because cross-chain transactions can be executed easily and cheaply between two layer 2s that have committed to the same chain, building layer 3s may not necessarily improve the efficiency of the network.

Buterin’s comments on possible layer 3 use cases come as StarkWare’s newly produced recursive validity proofs appear to have possibly put an end to Ethereum’s scalability concerns.

Declan Fox, the product manager at Ethereum software firm ConsenSys, recently told Cointelegraph that “with recursive rollups and proofs, we theoretically can infinitely scale.”

These recursive proofs have been well tested in production, with StarkWare co-founder Eli-Ben Sasson recently telling Cointelegraph that its recursive proofs have rolled up as many as 600,000 nonfungible token mints in a single transaction on Immutable X and that 60 million transactions could soon be on the cards “with more engineering and tweaking.”

The ‘launch of a rocket’ — Observers on the future of Ethereum post-Merge

With the Ethereum Merge only hours away, Cointelegraph spoke to industry experts about the transition to proof-of-stake today and what to look out for.

The Ethereum Merge is set to occur later today with the energy-efficiency focused transition expected to have a major impact on crypto investment and adoption, experts say. 

Speaking to Cointelegraph in the lead up to the Merge, StarkWare president and co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson noted that the Ethereum Merge will be the “first step in a process that will lead to exceedingly widespread adoption of Ethereum.”

The immediate importance of the Merge is the dramatic effect on energy consumption.

The Merge is expected to see Ethereum’s energy cut by 99.95% compared to its current Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism, which requires large amounts of energy to be used in a competition to solve arbitrary mathematical puzzles.

“I think of the Merge like the development of the first solar fields,” added Ben-Sasson.

“We saw that we can slash the environmental impact of electricity production. We didn’t say ‘problem solved,’ but rather that if we’re generating electricity with less pollution, it’s time to double down on efforts to use the power more sparingly.”

Ben-Sasson believes the end result where the general population uses blockchain-based apps in many different areas of life, “and as naturally as people use smartphone apps today.”

CEO of crypto exchange Coinjar, Asher Tan says the Merge is set to change the narrative around crypto more broadly, pointing out that it’s incredibly rare for a tech sector to “execute such a drastic reduction in their energy intensity.”

“We believe that people are underselling the significance of the post-Merge 99.95% drop in energy usage,” noted Tan.

It makes the Ethereum network far more publicly palatable and opens the door for investors and companies that had remained crypto-agnostic due to its carbon footprint.

Despite optimism about Ethereum’s transition, there is still debate on whether the Merge has already been factored into Ether (ETH) price or not.

Charmyn Ho, head of crypto insights at crypto exchange Bybit, says their analysts have concluded there is “no consensus” amongst institutional investors or market makers regarding short-term trading around The Merge, but will instead be more likely to accumulate ETH and become hodlers.

Related: Only 10 hours to the Ethereum Merge: Here’s what you need to know

Meanwhile, most within the Ethereum “bubble” don’t appear to be concerned over whether the Merge will be a success or not.

Ethereum Co-Founder Joseph Lubin told Bloomberg yesterday he believes the transition will result in very little disruption to developers and users, and will be “as smooth as if your iPhone or laptop has upgraded its operating system overnight.”

StarkWare’s Ben-Sasson also sees the transition being a smooth one, suggesting the “Ethereum Foundation has prepared so meticulously for this moment, and inspires lots of confidence,” noting:

 “It will be a significant mark of success when the first block is produced by proof of stake. But this is like completing the launch of a rocket — we still have the rest of the journey ahead of us, which will pose its challenges.”

Lubin suggests that in his opinion, this is the third most important event in the crypto space, behind only the development of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The ‘launch of a rocket’ — Observers on the future of Ethereum post-Merge

With the Ethereum Merge only hours away, Cointelegraph spoke to industry experts about the transition to proof-of-stake today and what to look out for.

The Ethereum Merge is set to occur on Sept. 15 at around 6am UTC, with the energy-efficiency-focused transition expected to have a major impact on crypto investment and adoption, experts say. 

Speaking to Cointelegraph in the lead-up to the Merge, StarkWare president and co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson noted that the Ethereum Merge will be the “first step in a process that will lead to exceedingly widespread adoption of Ethereum:”

“The immediate importance of the Merge is the dramatic effect on energy consumption.”

The Merge is expected to see Ethereum’s energy cut by 99.95% compared to its current proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, which requires large amounts of energy to be used in a competition to solve arbitrary mathematical puzzles.

“I think of the Merge like the development of the first solar fields,” added Ben-Sasson.

“We saw that we can slash the environmental impact of electricity production. We didn’t say ‘problem solved,’ but rather that if we’re generating electricity with less pollution, it’s time to double down on efforts to use the power more sparingly.”

Ben-Sasson believes the end result is when the general population uses blockchain-based apps in many different areas of life, “and as naturally as people use smartphone apps today.”

CEO of crypto exchange Coinjar, Asher Tan says the Merge is set to change the narrative around crypto more broadly, pointing out that it’s incredibly rare for a tech sector to “execute such a drastic reduction in their energy intensity.”

“We believe that people are underselling the significance of the post-Merge 99.95% drop in energy usage,” noted Tan:

“It makes the Ethereum network far more publicly palatable and opens the door for investors and companies that had remained crypto-agnostic due to its carbon footprint.”

Despite optimism about Ethereum’s transition, there is still debate on whether the Merge has already been factored into Ether’s (ETH) price or not.

Charmyn Ho, head of crypto insights at crypto exchange Bybit, says their analysts have concluded there is “no consensus” among institutional investors or market makers regarding short-term trading around the Merge, but will instead be more likely to accumulate ETH and become hodlers.

Related: Only 10 hours to the Ethereum Merge: Here’s what you need to know

Meanwhile, most within the Ethereum “bubble” don’t appear to be concerned over whether the Merge will be a success or not.

Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin told Bloomberg yesterday he believes the transition will result in very little disruption to developers and users and will be “as smooth as if your iPhone or laptop has upgraded its operating system overnight.”

StarkWare’s Ben-Sasson also sees the transition being a smooth one, suggesting that the “Ethereum Foundation has prepared so meticulously for this moment, and inspires lots of confidence,” noting:

“It will be a significant mark of success when the first block is produced by proof of stake. But this is like completing the launch of a rocket — we still have the rest of the journey ahead of us, which will pose its challenges.”

Lubin suggests that in his opinion, this is the third most important event in the crypto space, behind only the development of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum.

60 million NFTs could be minted in a single transaction: StarkWare founder

The StarkWare founder announced the launch of its new Recursive validity proof technology on Aug. 7 in Seoul.

Zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup tech company StarkWare founder Eli Ben-Sasson says its new Recursive validity proofs could theoretically roll up as many as 60 million transactions into one on the Ethereum blockchain.

The zkSTARK co-inventor made the comments to Cointelegraph during ETH Seoul on Aug. 7 after announcing the start of production of StarkWare’s new Recursive validity proof technology during a presentation. 

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Ben-Sasson said that recursive validity proofs could further scale up transaction throughput to a factor of at least ten compared to standard Validium scaling, noting that they’ve already been rolling up 600,000 mints of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on the ImmutableX protocol.

“I would say the minimum I would say is 10x […] We’ve been putting 600,000 mints of NFTs, which resulted in a 10 gas per mint. We can now at the very least take 10 of such proofs and generate a recursive proof of all 10 of these things,” he explained.

“We could go to six million at the very least, and this is in the near term. That’s something that would be very easy to do. ”

However, Ben-Sasson also added the number could “go up to 60 million with more engineering and tweaking,” adding: 

“I think also reducing the latency by another factor that’s 5 to 10x is also very doable.”

StarkNet is a permissionless and decentralized layer-2 ZK-rollup that uses Validium to scale transactions. Like standard ZK-Rollups, Validiums work by aggregating thousands of transactions into a single transaction. StarkNet’s new Recursive validity proof technology can batch up several Validium blocks into a single proof.

This scaling solution could be a game-changer for Ethereum as layer-2 scaling solutions like ZK-Rollups and StarkNet’s Recursive validity proofs can offload much of the network congestion and data availability issues that have caused trouble on the Ethereum Mainnet. Currently, Ethereum’s Mainnet can process transactions at a rate of 12-15 transactions per second (TPS).

During his presentation at ETH Seoul, Ben-Sasson noted that recursion is great for scaling as it lowers gas costs, has higher proof capacity, and offers lower latency. 

StarkNet has been live on Ethereum Mainnet since June 2020. It currently powers protocols including dYdX, Immutable, DeversiFi, and Celer.

Related: Blockchain’s Scaling Problem, Explained

Also speaking at ETH Seoul on Sunday, Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his enthusiasm towards ZK-rollups, further stating that the scaling solution was superior to Optimistic Rollups:

“In the longer term, ZK-Rollups are eventually going to beat Optimistic Rollups because they have these fundamental advantages, like not needing to have a seven-day withdrawal period.”

To date, the Ethereum-based scaling solutions with the most total value locked (TVL) are Arbitrum, Optimism, dYdX, and Loopring.