Starknet q1 en

Introduction

Shutting down programs, laying off teams, quiet timelines? Not on Starknet.

While most L2s wait for the bull to come back, Starknet doubled down on infra, UX, decentralization, and its new narratives (Bitcoin, AI agents, appchains).

This Q1 recap walks you through everything Starknet shipped, everything that’s coming, why it’s still the most ambitious L2 out there, and the one that ships the most.

Let’s get into it.

1. Network optimization

Over time, Starknet has emerged as the most advanced L2 stack on the market, steadily widening the gap with its competitors. That’s what true first-principles engineering looks like; no shortcuts, no borrowed tech, no copy-pasta. Just raw innovation from StarkWare and the Starknet ecosystem. Q1 2025 proved it once again.

During Q1, StarkWare shipped Starknet v0.13.5, a major upgrade that drastically reduced fees for all network users (thanks to Stateless Compression), improved DevX, and introduced multiple optimizations to pave the way for the highly anticipated Starknet v0.14.0. This upcoming version, featuring Stwo, fee market, and mempool, is set to launch on Mainnet in Q2 2025.

Even before the v0.13.5 release, Starknet was already the most cost-efficient rollup. Now, it’s even further ahead. On average cost per user, here’s how much more expensive other L2s are compared to Starknet (according to L2Beat):

• Fuel: ~7.1x more expensive

• Linea: ~7.8x more expensive

• INK: ~8.8x more expensive

• Base: ~13.6x more expensive

• OP Mainnet: ~18.4x more expensive

• Arbitrum: ~25x more expensive

No other L2 has more room to keep slashing fees than Starknet.

At today’s L2 fee levels, you might think it doesn’t matter anymore; who cares if a tx costs $0.001 or $0.0001? That’s partly true in the short term. But long term, it matters a lot:

1. Rollup fees are directly tied to Ethereum base fees and blob space usage. As activity grows across the L1 and L2s, demand for blockspace (and especially blobs) will rise, and every bit of optimization will count.

2. Starknet’s long-term vision is to create the perfect environment for consumer-grade dApps, and apps offering a Web2-like UX. For that, builders need to fully abstract gas fees: users shouldn’t have to pay them, or even know they exist. And for that to be viable, fees need to be pushed as close to zero as possible.

So yes, pushing fees and costs lower is crucial to Starknet’s long-term vision, and it will become even more important as Ethereum adoption and blockspace demand grows.

Fees are gud, but what about TPS?

Well, Starknet is currently the highest-throughput rollup on Mainnet, already capable of handling ~1,000 TPS; that’s roughly 3x more than the current combined demand of Ethereum L1 + all L2s.

And this is just the beginning, even more capacity optimizations are on the roadmap for 2025.

In short, Starknet now runs the most advanced L2 stack in the game, and the hard bets StarkWare made years ago are finally paying off. To the benefit of users, developers, and... appchain builders!

Earlier this quarter, the Starknet ecosystem announced the launch of the SN Stack, allowing any project or developer to deploy their own Starknet, fully tailored to their business model.

By choosing the SN Stack, builders gain access to:

• The most battle-tested ZK stack, with proven success stories (Sorare, dYdX, ImmutableX, Paradex, and more).

• The most resource-efficient rollup stack in production.

• One of the fastest-scaling solutions, already supporting ~1,000 TPS and growing.

• A Web2-grade UX, enabled by Starknet’s native Account Abstraction (Session Keys, Paymasters, Multicall, etc.).

• A continuously evolving stack, with ongoing upgrades that benefit all builders passively.

To make SN appchain deployment even simpler, Starknet partnered with AltLayer, the leading Rollup-as-a-Service provider, facilitating the process of launching custom Starknet-based chains.

And beyond launching L2s, builders can also use the SN Stack to deploy L3s on top of Starknet, unlocking even lower fees for users and greater flexibility, thanks to:

• Dojo, the go-to stack for onchain games, which already launched the first gaming L3 on Starknet.

• Herodotus, which made SHARP accessible to everyone, and launched the Atlantic verifier on Mainnet.

And despite all that, it’s still Day 1 on Starknet; more optimizations are coming to lower fees even further, increase the TPS capacity, improve the overall UX & DevX, and unlock even more tools for devs to build their dream projects.

S-T-I-L-L D-A-Y 1 anon.

2. Decentralization

Having a blockchain that’s cheap, fast, and scalable is gud, but without decentralization and security, it’s all meaningless. At its core, a blockchain should be more than just a database, it’s a trustless coordination engine. Strip away decentralization and security, and what you're left with… is just a slow, inefficient database. And for that, centralized systems do the job better.

That’s why Starknet is doubling down on decentralization, without compromising on performance.

Over the past few months, Starknet has made major strides toward this goal. Let’s start with staking.

Phase 1 of STRK staking launched in late November 2024, with one core goal: to test and validate the first permissionless staking contract ever deployed on an L2. StarkWare prioritized security, community feedback, and network stability. Mission accomplished.

With Phase 1 now considered a success, as shown by the high participation numbers below, it’s time to move forward.

The ultimate goal? To progressively hand over Starknet operations to validators. Here’s how that transition will happen:

During Q1 2025, the Starknet ecosystem gathered all the feedback and conducted all the necessary tests to move forward with the next phase of staking: v2, where validators begin attesting to blocks.

The proposal was made by StarkWare, a vote was held, and the community recently approved all parameters of Staking V2, validating the two major additions to the current STRK staking:

• Block Attestations: Starknet will operate in epochs, where validators must attest to randomly selected blocks. If they don’t, they lose their rewards, and so do their delegators. This ensures validators are active and responsive before being entrusted with consensus duties (coming end of year), while also giving delegators visibility into validator performance.

• Dynamic Commissions: Validators will be allowed to increase their commission under strict rules.

These changes will go live on Mainnet in Q2 2025, bringing Starknet halfway toward its final staking architecture.

If you’re looking to participate in STRK staking today, this map shows the full ecosystem supporting it, including wallets, liquid staking protocols, Starknet-native validators, and more.

Since the map’s release, additional options have become available. You can also now stake and claim rewards:

• directly from the Keplr wallet

• on Nansen, combining STRK staking rewards with Nansen points

• on Binance, offering a flexible staking experience through this CEX

You can also:

• liquid stake directly from the Argent wallet interface

• skip the unstaking period by swapping xSTRK to STRK on Endur, thanks to the AVNU backend integration

As for the rest, Phase 3 is expected by the end of 2025, and Phase 4, which will introduce the final STRK staking architecture, will roll out in early 2026. And unlike most projects, decentralization on Starknet won’t come at the cost of performance.

How? All because of Malachite, a high-performance consensus engine developed by Informal Systems, written in Rust, and optimized for speed, flexibility, and validator diversity.

Thanks to Malachite, Starknet should be capable of sustaining over 1,000 TPS while being fully decentralized. More on that here.

So Starknet is rapidly advancing on its decentralization journey, and leading the pack among all L2s.

Beyond staking, it’s worth highlighting that Starknet is also:

• powered by a quantum-resistant proving system

• committed to open-sourcing all its core components (next up: Stwo and the new sequencer Apollo)

• the only Rollup in production with no trusted setup

• will soon be recognized as a Stage 1 Rollup by L2Beat

• offers the most decentralized stack of any L2

You can dive deeper into Starknet’s full plan for decentralization here.

All for the Ethereum community, and, the Bitcoin one too.

3. Bitcoin advancement

Bitcoin is now one of StarkWare’s top priorities, with the goal of making Starknet the first L2 to settle on both Ethereum and Bitcoin, unlocking significant benefits for everyone. You can explore the full benefits and vision here.

Q1 delivered big on this front and planted the seeds for what’s shaping up to be an exciting Q2 in terms of unlocking Bitcoin use cases on Starknet. Indeed, after months of research, BD, and partnerships, the Starknet ecosystem is finally ready to accelerate and roll out a wide range of Bitcoin-powered use cases. Here’s the full plan.

What you need to know from this plan, and what’s already been implemented since the announcement, is simple:

• Bitcoin staking is coming

• Rune and other Bitcoin-native assets are coming (a dedicated bridge is in the works)

• StarkWare has built a strategic reserve of BTC & ETH, and plans to accumulate more over time

• Bitcoin Lightning payments are now usable directly from Starknet, via the Braavos mobile wallet, allowing users to pay with STRK at any vendor accepting Lightning

• Xverse, one of the leading Bitcoin wallets, is integrating Starknet. Their first product, BTC <> STRK cross-chain swaps, is already live

• A Bitcoin-focused incentive program by the Starknet Foundation is coming

• iBTC is coming to Starknet

• Users can tip with STRK on Nostr

• Anyone can privately fund a Cashu wallet using Starknet

In addition, StarkWare has recently brought on key Bitcoin-native profiles to drive this forward:

• Dan Held, serial Bitcoin entrepreneur and educator, joined StarkWare as an advisor to accelerate Bitcoin initiatives

• Ulrich Haböck, to drive Circle Stark and Bitcoin-related efforts

• Jack Liu, OG (ex-Circle, ex-OKX), joined as StarkWare’s Bitcoin advocate

• Additionally, StarkWare has created a Bitcoin exploration team and is actively hiring

Believe me, MUCH more is coming on the Bitcoin front.

4. StarkWare and the Starknet Foundation are accelerating on all fronts

StarkWare and the Foundation kicked off four major programs, pushing hard across new regions and verticals.

1. Africa

StarkWare has launched a $4M venture fund to support African entrepreneurs building blockchain innovations using Starknet. This fund includes:

• Grants of up to $500,000

• Help to build on Starknet public infra or appchains (L2/L3)

• Mentorship and technical expertise

2. Bitcoin/APAC

StarkWare has also launched a $2M Bitcoin-focused program for dApps building:

• Bitcoin-native applications

• ZK-powered BTC use cases

• Protocols bridging Bitcoin <> Starknet

3. Global Impact Accelerator

The Starknet Foundation is launching an accelerator with @uprightventures, an 8-week program with expert mentorship and go-to-market firepower for founders building startups with real impact in mind.

4. LATAM

The Starknet Foundation and Espacio Cripto have partnered to support top founders across Mexico and Latin America. The partnership will kick off a series of initiatives across LATAM: from founder and dev hubs, to product pipelines and VC/community engagement.

All of these programs share one clear goal: making dApps and use cases go bananas on Starknet.

5. External integrations

1. Noir devs can now use Starknet for their ZK-powered applications

Thanks to the Garaga SDK, Noir proofs can be verified directly on Starknet, without writing a single line of Cairo. That means fast, cheap, and scalable ZK infra for private apps, and broadens the range of builders who can tap into Starknet’s full power.

Noir gud, Starknet fast; privacy at scale, now more accessible than ever.

2. Starknet now has its own dedicated Kaito dashboard

Kaito has officially integrated Starknet, meaning that by creating content about Starknet, you can now:

• Farm Kaito points (Yap) and climb the Starknet mindshare leaderboard

• Get a chance to be selected for the Wolf Pack League program and get rewarded for your content

• Become one of the future legends shaping Starknet’s narrative before mass adoption

All in one, anon.

6. Ekubo shipping killer features & expanding to EVM chains

Ekubo has been on a roll lately, delivering key features on Starknet and setting the stage for expansion across the EVM landscape.

In January, Ekubo shipped a major UX upgrade: Limit Orders. This long-awaited feature lets traders buy/sell at precise prices, avoid slippage, and automate their entries and exits, fully onchain and directly on Starknet.

These limit order pools have already been integrated into AVNU and Fibrous, two DEX aggregators, meaning better execution across the board.

Ekubo also launched an open-source initiative: