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StarkNet - Ethereum's Scaling Solution

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StarkNet - Ethereum's Scaling Solution

StarkNet is scaling Ethereum in 2022

Aylo
Mar 16, 2022
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StarkNet - Ethereum's Scaling Solution

alphapls.substack.com

Welcome to the alpha please newsletter. I curate alpha for you. That’s it; that’s the newsletter.


This alpha please newsletter is about StarkNet. It’s fast becoming one of the most exciting solutions for scaling Ethereum.


What’s to come?

  • Definitions

  • What is StarkNet

  • The Story so far

  • Overviews of StarkNet

  • Starknet Ecosystem

  • How Decentralised will StarkNet be?

  • Why should you care about StarkNet?

  • When can you move from ETH L1 to Starknet?

  • Wen Token? (don’t you dare just skip to this bit)

  • Key Resources


Definitions

There are some complicated tech underpinning StarkNet, so I will try and reduce everything down to the basics. (I am not smart btw, so this is to help me.)

A few “Explain it like I’m five” definitions:

Explain This To Me Like I Am Five GIFs - Find & Share on GIPHY

ZK Rollups?

A ZK-Rollup is a smart contract that takes hundreds of transactions off the main blockchain and bundles them into a single transaction. It then sends a validity proof back to the main blockchain.

ZK rollups allow for the validation of blocks in a cheaper, faster, and privacy-focused manner, thereby allowing builders and developers to use Ethereum at scale.

The ZK bit?

In cryptography, zero knowledge proofs let you convince me that you know something, or have done something, without revealing to me what your secret thing was.

What is ZK-STARK?

STARK is a proof system. ZK-STARKs, invented by StarkWare (a company), enforce the integrity and privacy of computations on blockchains, using novel cryptographic proofs and modern algebra.

STARKs allow the underlying blockchains to move transactions to an off-chain prover, who then uses an on-chain verifier to verify these transactions.


Firstly, StarkWare is a company with two products:

  • StarkEx

  • Starknet

I am going to focus on StarkNet, but a quick TLDR on StarkEx.

What is StarkEx?

StarkEx is a standalone, customizable Layer-2 SAAS (Software as a Service) for exchanges that uses the STARK proof system in order to provide massive scaling.

Last week StarkEx did roughly 33% more transactions than Ethereum layer one.

It has been used by projects such as dydx, Sorare and Immutablex.

For context:

dydx generated $60 million in revenue over the last 30 days. The second most of any protocol in crypto (data from Token Terminal).

Sorare, the European fantasy soccer and NFT collectible platform, raised $680 million in their Series. It was a record for any Series B raise by a European company.

Immutablex, the first Layer 2 for NFTs on Ethereum, just got valued at $2.5 billion.

Big boy numbers.


What is StarkNet?

StarkNet is a permissionless decentralized Validity-Rollup (also known as a “ZK-Rollup”). It operates as an L2 network over Ethereum, enabling any dApp to achieve unlimited scale for its computation –  without compromising Ethereum’s composability and security, thanks to StarkNet’s reliance on the safest and most scalable cryptographic proof system – STARK

Ok, there are lots of big words here.

But basically:

StarkNet is a general-purpose network where you can write and deploy your own smart contracts, interact with other contracts, and so on, just like Ethereum.

And let me just highlight this bit again because it’s ultimately why I wrote this newsletter:

“StarkNet allows any dApp to achieve unlimited scale for its computation, without compromising Ethereum’s composability and security.”


The StarkNet Story So Far

StarkNet is currently in Alpha

StarkNet Alpha was released to public testnet in June, and to Mainnet in November. By the time of the Mainnet deployment, StarkNet was already delivering general computation in an Ethereum-like state, which was widely thought to be years away.

While StarkNet currently delivers the compression magic they promised, at the moment, it’s far from being able to do so for enough dApps with enough throughput, and this may prove a source of frustration for developers in the short term.

The Network’s performance is now the top priority for development.

StarkNet say they now have hundreds of developers building on StarkNet, tens of dApps, and more than a dozen external teams developing tooling and infrastructure for the StarkNet ecosystem.

StarkWare to be valued at $6B

StarkWare raised $50 million in a Series C funding round back in November, and that put the firm’s valuation at $2 billion.

They are now looking to raise $100 million and triple their valuation to $6 billion. For context, ConsenSys, the leading Ethereum software company, was recently valued at $7 Billion.

Twitter avatar for @Crypto_Briefing
Crypto Briefing @Crypto_Briefing
.@StarkWareLtd is reportedly looking to raise $100 million in its latest funding round.
cryptobriefing.comEthereum Layer 2 Developer StarkWare Looking to Triple Valuation to $6BEthereum Layer 2 developer StarkWare is reportedly raising $100 million in an ongoing funding round at a $6 billion valuation.
1:18 PM ∙ Mar 10, 2022
3Likes2Retweets

The StarkWare Team

Giga brains. The undisputed experts in ZK technology.

Commentary on the team from Supercycled.

Twitter avatar for @_supercycled
Supercycled @_supercycled
8/ Team & beginnings: @StarkWareLtd : Beginning in May 2018. The team is made up of world class cryptographers and scientists. Core guys are ex Zcash chief scientists and have pioneered innovation in the zk field for years. Lots of galaxy brain academic papers that they are..
9:48 AM ∙ Dec 10, 2021
140Likes6Retweets
Twitter avatar for @_supercycled
Supercycled @_supercycled
9/ .. turning into a real world product with Starknet. Undoubtedly the most renowned team in this game @zksync : Beginning in dec 2019. There is actually a "second best" in the zk field and it's Matter Labs team which is building ZkSync. Co founded by @gluk64, I couldn't find..
9:48 AM ∙ Dec 10, 2021
103Likes3Retweets

Great overviews of StarkNet

A few overview threads that are easy to digest.

Simao is coming in hot from ETH Denver and he’s got a very digestable breakdown of StarkNet.

Twitter avatar for @SimaoCCruz
Simão Cruz @SimaoCCruz
StarkNet 101: What it is, how it works, and why it will blow your mind. (full credit to @HenriLieutaud on a great workshop at @ethdenver) Here’s an attempt at summarizing a two-hour workshop in a single thread 👇🧵 (1/14)
6:00 PM ∙ Feb 18, 2022
176Likes52Retweets

A couple more deep dives from anons.

Twitter avatar for @mt_1466
MT @mt_1466
1/ Yesterday, I highlighted zkSync. So it only makes sense that I do the same for @StarkWareLtd and their #Ethereum rollup solutions #L222 #StarkEx and #StarkNet Another deep-dive thread into one of the projects changing the scaling world 🧵...
1:40 PM ∙ Feb 10, 2022
264Likes58Retweets

This dropped very recently from OxKanna.

Twitter avatar for @0xKanna
Kanna |✨Cutest dev on starknet @0xKanna
🧵 Starknet Thesis 🧵 L2 Holy Grail. High Throughput and Scalable permissionless Rollup @HenriLieutaud @GuthL @odin_free @Swagtimus @EliBenSasson @gakonst 1/x
Image
4:35 PM ∙ Mar 15, 2022
101Likes19Retweets

The founders of Starkware spoke on the Delphi Podcast last October and delphi intern broke it down into these very handy notes.

Twitter avatar for @delphiintern
(Delphi, Intern) @delphiintern
Notes from the @PodcastDelphi with @StarkWareLtd founders Eli and Uri on: ⁃Low transaction costs on ZK-Rollups 💵 ⁃StarkWare powered gaming 👾 ⁃StarkNet’s dApp ecosystem 🌐 And much more! @Shaughnessy119 <> @mediodelphi <> @EliBenSasson <> @ukolodny
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4:37 PM ∙ Oct 29, 2021
101Likes27Retweets

Cairo

Cairo is the programming language for Starknet. It was developed in-house by StarkWare. It’s the first production-grade Turing complete von-Neumann verifier on Ethereum.

There is tooling to translate Solidity smart contracts into Cairo.

Twitter avatar for @odin_free
odin free ✨🐺 @odin_free
@enthusiast761 Cairo is our native language. It is optimized for proofs and tailored for L2. We also have tools for translating Solidity into Cairo (Warp). While Cairo is new, it comes with a lot of benefits.
11:33 AM ∙ Mar 5, 2022
Twitter avatar for @odin_free
odin free ✨🐺 @odin_free
Cairo is not that hard to learn and a promising skill in your toolbox. This tutorial will show you how to write and implement a StarkNet contract: cairo-lang.org/docs/hello_sta… and
starknet.ioRecorded Tutorials - StarkNetStarkNet recorded tutorials and workshops will guide you in building your StarkNet contract
11:27 AM ∙ Mar 5, 2022
20Likes3Retweets

Mallows contrasts Cairo with Solidity (Ethereum’s programming language).

Twitter avatar for @mallowsxyz
Mallows @mallowsxyz
18/ while solidity apps are built from the ground up for a gas-optimized environment, Cairo apps are a natural fit for a much larger set of compute-heavy functionality that it doesn't make sense to code in Solidity in the first place.
3:17 PM ∙ Mar 3, 2022
Twitter avatar for @mallowsxyz
Mallows @mallowsxyz
19/ For example, we may write a video game or simulation in Cairo, even though such apps, if written in solidity, would consume more gas than all the L1 gas on ethereum. But, by the magic of StarkNet & Cairo, we can run these big programs while securing/settling them on ethereum.
3:18 PM ∙ Mar 3, 2022
Twitter avatar for @mallowsxyz
Mallows @mallowsxyz
20/ In short, our take on solidity vs. cairo is that we think developers will want to write apps in Cairo, and that's why our homebrew slogan for StarkNet is, "Come for the Solidity support & EVM compatibility, stay for the Cairo" :)
3:18 PM ∙ Mar 3, 2022

StarkNet ecosystem

Somehow Odin is managing to keep up with all of the projects building on StarkNet.

Twitter avatar for @odin_free
odin free ✨🐺 @odin_free
Frens, here's the latest ecosystem map for StarkNet It's been updated with 15 new projects and services. Don't worry about me.
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2:24 PM ∙ Mar 5, 2022
226Likes63Retweets

You can view this in detail on StarkNet’s new ecosystem’s website.

Twitter avatar for @StarkNetEco
StarkNet Ecosystem @StarkNetEco
Dear #StarkNet Fam 💘 We launched starknet-ecosystem.com 4 days ago and we already received a lot of attention! +50 projects listed on the Dashboard +15 PR for adding projects +3 translations provided (French, Turkish, Italian) Community implication is crazy! @StarkWareLtd
starknet-ecosystem.comStarkNet EcosystemExplore all projects building & running on StarkNet L2
12:46 PM ∙ Mar 6, 2022
63Likes12Retweets

Here is an up to date list of projects you can test today.

Twitter avatar for @odin_free
odin free ✨🐺 @odin_free
Far beyond the moon, a new star rises. 🔆🔆 StarkNet 🔆🔆 The following is an update on what you can try today! 25 projects to test! It's time for another spoonfeddorrr 🧵👇
10:30 AM ∙ Feb 19, 2022
353Likes103Retweets

AAVE holders have recently voted to deploy their v3 on StarkNet.

Twitter avatar for @eboadom
Ernesto @eboadom
1/3 The Aave governance proposal to approve a joint development between Aave and Starknet communities has been executed, after approval by the Aave community. What does this mean? ⬇️
Image
1:33 PM ∙ Feb 26, 2022
86Likes11Retweets
Twitter avatar for @odin_free
odin free ✨🐺 @odin_free
Aave is heading to StarkNet !! Fren, this is a big deal, and today you can make it happen. Why is it so pivotal for Aave and StarkNet? Time for a thread 🧵 1/6
3:52 PM ∙ Feb 24, 2022
316Likes49Retweets

Argent X has the only browser compatible wallet so far for StarkNet & it has already hit a nice milestone.

Twitter avatar for @argentHQ
Argent @argentHQ
The StarkNet ecosystem is exploding Argent X has already hit 40K users. Doubled in a couple of weeks.
Twitter avatar for @odin_free
odin free ✨🐺 @odin_free
Scaling Ethereum is not coming, it's already here. StarkNet's ecosystem is growing exponentially. Our first bridge will be deployed within four weeks and the game will begin. Thanks, fam, it's amazing. https://t.co/lRfPM42lFG
5:10 PM ∙ Mar 3, 2022
174Likes22Retweets

Sneak peek at the Dope Wars game building on StarkNet.

Twitter avatar for @TheDopeWars
Dope Wars @TheDopeWars
This Weeks Sneaks Tunes from: @unkleofficial $Paper $Dope
10:16 AM ∙ Mar 2, 2022
83Likes32Retweets

And another game building on StarkNet.

Twitter avatar for @LootRealms
Realms (for Adventurers) @LootRealms
BTS of an OG 2D Realm being transformed into its 3D high-fidelity form 🗺️ In the future, Lords & Ladies will be able to explore their high-fidelity Realms in scale on #StarkNet @StarkWareLtd 👀 These height maps are CC0 and free for buidlers to use as they please.
4:16 AM ∙ Mar 11, 2022
66Likes12Retweets

A shower thought.

Twitter avatar for @epolynya
polynya @epolynya
I believe gaming on StarkNet (& other zkRs) might just be the blockchain industry's ultimate trojan horse to mass adoption. Let's support these pioneers and future legends.
Twitter avatar for @ukolodny
Uri Kolodny ✨ @ukolodny
. @TheDopeWars led by master @eth_worm, @influenceth, @briqs_, @guiltygyoza. The first teams building games on #StarkNet. 1-5 devs (mean: 2). Remember these pioneers when #StarkNet gaming is ubiquitous.
10:02 AM ∙ Oct 28, 2021
166Likes17Retweets

How Decentralised will StarkNet be?

It will be completely decentralised and they are currently working on that model. Here is the first draft.

Twitter avatar for @OhadBarta
Ohad Barta @OhadBarta
I asked people at StarkWare for their first association of what StarkNet is, and got: Happiness The future Proofs L3 @bbrandtom How will we reach consensus? A first draft for decentralisation method is out! Your opinions and associations are welcome!
community.starknet.ioDecentralized Consensus Potential Candidate (Longest Chain)Please, feel very free to offer variants, analyze potential attacks, or otherwise give feedback! Building StarkNet’s algorithms with you and for you is very important for us!
9:20 AM ∙ Mar 10, 2022
57Likes14Retweets

Why should you care about StarkNet?

I know this is what you are really after. Let’s ask the the CT hive mind.

The Co-founder of Paradigm and partner at Sequioa added a lot of zeros…

Twitter avatar for @matthuang
Matt Huang @matthuang
StarkNet is live! This will be a key part of how Ethereum scales 1000x, and eventually 1000000x…
Twitter avatar for @StarkWareLtd
StarkWare @StarkWareLtd
StarkNet Alpha✨ First step on Mainnet ✅ https://t.co/wMKS3QrfqQ https://t.co/s0mr3Tr72R
3:35 PM ∙ Nov 29, 2021
508Likes63Retweets

Taken from Simao’s excellent thread.

Twitter avatar for @SimaoCCruz
Simão Cruz @SimaoCCruz
The goal here is to do ten times what you do on Ethereum by the end of this quarter, but 100 times cheaper. Starkware will be running the prover themselves and paying for it. At the end of the year, they want to decentralize it. (12/14)
6:00 PM ∙ Feb 18, 2022
Twitter avatar for @SimaoCCruz
Simão Cruz @SimaoCCruz
If Starkware pulls it off, they will be able to do things we couldn’t dream of on Ethereum, with any centralized party scaling their machine to do a lot more things. (13/14)
6:00 PM ∙ Feb 18, 2022

Incredible gas savings.

Twitter avatar for @odin_free
odin free ✨🐺 @odin_free
So... StarkNet is a blockchain? No Ser, StarkNet is a compression service. The ZipFile for Ethereum transactions. 500'000 gas becomes 100 gas cheap, green, fast & secure.
9:00 AM ∙ Feb 5, 2022
1,194Likes139Retweets
Twitter avatar for @odin_free
odin free ✨🐺 @odin_free
Why is starknet a game-changer? A complex transaction with collateral would cost 600,000 gas per tx on dydx Ethereum L1 - with STARKs it costs around 500 gas. It also gets much cheaper if you increase the batch size and the settlement period.
3:00 PM ∙ Jan 26, 2022
110Likes8Retweets

Hot take: Liron from StarkNet goes as far to say that it’s a scalable L1, not an L2.

Twitter avatar for @HaymanLiron
Liron Hayman ✨ @HaymanLiron
Personal opinion: stop talking about #StarkNet as an Ethereum L2. It's a *truly* scalable L1 (when comparing apples with apples) which derives security from #ethereum iykyk
10:55 PM ∙ Nov 3, 2021
32Likes1Retweet

Very strong endorsement from Delphi Digital.

Twitter avatar for @ZeMariaMacedo
José Maria Macedo @ZeMariaMacedo
A year ago when we started building stuff at Labs, we chose @terra_money and @solana as the two ecosystems we were most bullish on If we were starting Labs now, we'd be building on Starknet If you're building something cool on there, HMU
10:52 PM ∙ Mar 5, 2022
519Likes22Retweets

When Epolynya makes statements like this you should take note…

Twitter avatar for @epolynya
polynya @epolynya
@ToTheLoom @HaymanLiron I'm amazed at just how much is happening on StarkNet in a week following Swagtimus' newsletter, and there's more every week. I think I might have been pessimistic about my expectations - I have never seen a crypto project in alpha gain such rapid adoption by developers.
2:35 PM ∙ Mar 2, 2022
9Likes3Retweets

A nice data point from Diogo, but acknowledges Cairo is not as straight forward for devs.

Twitter avatar for @diogo_balmeida
Diogo Almeida @diogo_balmeida
At @EthereumDenver, when speaking about L2s, 80% of the builders mentioned @StarkWareLtd and believed that StarkNet was a top solution. However, Cairo is still one of the biggest barriers for devs to build on StarkNet.
9:05 PM ∙ Feb 28, 2022

When can you move from ETH L1 to Starknet?

Pretty soon. Orbiter have the first external bridge on test net currently.

Twitter avatar for @Orbiter_Finance
Orbiter Finance 🛸 @Orbiter_Finance
🛸Good news! Orbiter now supports StrakNet on Goerli, and you can choose StarkNet on Orbiter.Finance and bridge StarkNet in testnet! Thanks for the help from @StarkWareLtd!
Image
2:15 PM ∙ Feb 28, 2022
179Likes39Retweets

But wen token?

You will find out when StarkWare tells you, anon.

Twitter avatar for @GuthL
Louis Guthmann 🦇🔊✨ | 🐺-Maxi @GuthL
Your week-end friendly reminder that @StarkWareLtd and #StarkNet has no token and if (big if) we were to make one, you would be all aware...
The Office Bow GIF
8:25 AM ∙ Mar 6, 2022
14Likes1Retweet

The token will likely come once the decentralisation of StarkNet begins.

Twitter avatar for @boqdan_
boqdan.eth @boqdan_
And soon after will follow the actual decentralization of the StarkNet network of nodes (provers/state providers/sequencers), including economic incentives, in case someone's asking wen token 😅 5/n
3:19 AM ∙ Mar 4, 2022

Key resources to learn more:

A one stop shop of everything to do with StarkNet.

Twitter avatar for @gakonst
Georgios Konstantopoulos @gakonst
After crowdsourcing some info to make sure I was not missing anything, I'm excited to share "Awesome StarkNet", a curated list of awesome @StarkWareLtd / @CairoLang / StarkNet resources, libraries, tools and more. PRs for additional content are welcome!
github.comGitHub - gakonst/awesome-starknet: A curated list of awesome StarkNet resources, libraries, tools and moreA curated list of awesome StarkNet resources, libraries, tools and more - GitHub - gakonst/awesome-starknet: A curated list of awesome StarkNet resources, libraries, tools and more
9:50 PM ∙ Nov 23, 2021
600Likes123Retweets

For weekly updates nothing beats Swagtimus Prime’s StarkNet newsletter.

Swagtimus.eth🦇🔊L2'22’s Newsletter
StarkNet Roundup #8
gm fellow STARK enthusiasts! ✨🐺 This is the 8th edition of your weekly StarkNet summary. The previous update can be found here. Let’s get into this week’s news! 👇 Protocol & dev tool updates StarkWare announce strategic partnership with Alchemy…
Read more
a year ago · 1 like · Swagtimus.eth🦇🔊L2'22

Follow Tom to get the latest monthly StarkNet updates.

Twitter avatar for @bbrandtom
Tom Brand ✨ @bbrandtom
✨ StarkNet Monthly Update ✨ StarkNet is growing, and it becomes harder to keep everyone updated. We are trying a new thing - sharing a monthly update of StarkNet's status and plans ahead. See the full update here - tinyurl.com/ya3rfa4h 🧵 👇🏾 1/7
tinyurl.comStarkNet Monthly Update FebruaryHi all, trying a new thing here - a monthly update on StarkNet’s development. The goal is to give a monthly insight into upcoming versions and releases. StarkNet Alpha versions - V0.7.1 - released two weeks ago on Goerli testnet and last week on Mainnet. Seems to be working smoothly so far.…
11:04 AM ∙ Mar 2, 2022
78Likes20Retweets

Good intro podcast with Hasu.

Udi jumped on Twitter Spaces very recently with the co-founder and Head of Product at Starkware. It’s a great listen.

Twitter avatar for @udiWertheimer
udiverse 39 @udiWertheimer
udiverse is live! learn about rollups and zero knowledge (zero knowledge is my default state) https://t.co/jANZJHNQhp
5:07 PM ∙ Mar 7, 2022
48Likes6Retweets

It really be like that.

pinching Swagtimus Prime’s meme

And that’s your alpha.

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Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Do your own research.


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