StarkWare issues token, can StarkNet lead Layer2 to rise again in the east?
On July 13, StarkWare, an ethereum scaling solution, said it intends to launch a governance token called StarkNet Token, which is scheduled to be officially released in September 2022. In fact, this was expected by the market, as early as July 12, Three Arrows Capital founder zhu su had tweeted to reveal that StarkWare would issue a coin in the future.
The total number of tokens will start at 10 billion, after which the tokens will be released inflationarily, 17% to StarkWare investors, 32.9% reserved for core contributors (including the core team, consultants and development partners) to be unlocked for four years, and the remaining 50.1% to the StarkNet Foundation to drive development. The token allocation details show that StarkWare focuses on developer rewards and weakens community allocation.
The StarkNet token will have three main uses. The token will be used for the governance of the StarkNet blockchain. By 2023, it will be possible to contribute to the performance and security of the layer by pledging tokens. In addition, while StarkNet currently uses ETH to pay for transactions, it will eventually be replaced by a new token.
In the past period, Optimism as the frontrunner of Ether scaling solution issued tokens to cause a sensation in the whole Layer2, OP’s low price makes the market’s pursuit of Layer2 is gradually cooling down, and users are expecting the follow-up actions of Zksync, StarkWare and Arbitrum. zT Labs believes that StarkWare’s announcement of a token offering at this point in time will rekindle the market’s enthusiasm for Layer2.
High valuation, strong financing ability, sought after by institutions
In 2018, SatekWare completed a seed round with participation from Vitalik Buterin, the Ether Foundation, Paradigm, Redshirt and other institutions, and its customers now include well-known projects in the crypto industry such as ConsenSys, Immutable, DYdX and Sorare. On May 25, 2022, StarkWare closed a $100 million Series D round of funding at a valuation of $8 billion.
StarkWare now ranks first in Layer2 in both total funding and valuation. Total funding amounted to $273 million, and the valuation was even higher at $8 billion, quadrupling in six months.
Top-notch “technical skills” is the killer app of StarkWare
On January 5, 2020, Vitalik Buterin stated that Rollups are a powerful Layer 2 scaling paradigm that is expected to become a key scaling solution for Ether and a cornerstone of Ether scaling in the short to medium term.Rollups are divided into two camps, Opitmistic Rollup and ZK Rollup, with Optimism and ZkSync and StarkWare belong to the ZK family, and StarkWare was created in 2018 with a technical team led by Eli Ben-Sasson, Alessandro Chiesa and Michael Riabzev, of which Alessandro Chiesa was a member of the Zcash team before founding StarkWare. The technical team is led by Eli Ben-Sasson, Alessandro Chiesa and Michael Riabzev, of which Alessandro Chiesa was a co-founder of Zcash prior to founding StarkWare.
Based on the strong technical background of the team, StakWare has proposed the scalable zero-knowledge proof algorithm zkSTARK based on the zero-knowledge proof algorithm.
Relying on the strong technical background of the team, StakWare proposes the scalable zero-knowledge proof algorithm zkSTARK on top of the zero-knowledge proof algorithm.
zkSTARK, as an upgraded zero-knowledge proof algorithm, makes the blockchain more scalable. The underlying blockchain with this algorithm allows developers to transfer the transaction data computing and storage of some data on the chain to the chain, and the data processed in bulk under the chain can be packaged to generate a STARK proof, which can be sent to the chain for any stakeholder to verify the authenticity After sending the proof to the chain, it can be verified by any stakeholder.
STARK has a very much larger proof size compared to the other two zero-knowledge proof algorithms, but has a great advantage in size and proof speed at computation, while STARK is more secure and resistant to quantum attacks.
ZT Labs: To Establish StarkWare’s Position in Layer2, Achieving Technology Breakthroughs Remains a Top Priority
Since open ecologies such as GameFi involve some complex interactions, the technical progress of ZK Rollup is also the primary problem faced by the StarkWare team. At the moment, the progress of ZK Rollup is slow, and cases like dYdX show that the actual scaling effect of StarkWare Layer2 is still limited. Therefore, for the StarkWare team, seeking technical breakthroughs is the top priority.
In the current Layer2 landscape, the OP-system Layer2 focuses on expanding the ecology, with Arbitrum launching an odyssey and Optimism launching OP. this puts more urgent demands on StarkWare to break through in technology.
Regarding EVM compatibility, StarkNet is currently the only ecology among the four Layers2 that is not EVM compatible. This will bring more resistance to the development of StarkWare ecology.
Compared with zkSync, StarkWare ecological layout is more comprehensive.
The StarkWare ecosystem is similar to zkSync in that the ecosystem is in its early stages, and there are few live projects in StarkNet. However, StarkNet is relatively balanced across tracks, unlike zkSync, which is tilted toward DeFi.
Including StarkEx, the number of live projects in the StarkWare ecosystem is 33. 5, 3, 6, 6, 4, 5 for DeFi, DEX, GameFi, NFT, Bridge, and Infrastructure respectively.
StarkWare is currently in the very early stage of development. Along with the continuous iteration and evolution of the StarkWare eco-picture in scaling technology, I believe StarkWare will do great things in the Layer2 field.
If you have any ideas and questions about StarkWare, the Ethernet scaling solution, please contact us via ZT Marketing Branding email: media@ztb.com, we look forward to communicating with you.
