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StarknetStarkWare—StarknetStarkWare—StarknetStarkWare—

Starknet

by StarkWareIL

DeployStage 4 of 5

Live validity rollup; moving to the S-two prover and decentralised staking.

Updated Jul 2026Checked 25 Sep0 updates this week

Milestones

Next · Decentralised sequencing and proving
  1. STARK paper (Ben-Sasson et al.)Mar 2018Complete.
  2. StarkEx live for dYdX and others2020Complete.
  3. Starknet Alpha on mainnetNov 2021Complete.
  4. S-two prover on mainnet2025Complete.
  5. Decentralised sequencing and provingNowCurrent milestone.

Most important updates

  • Jul 2026
  • 20 Apr 2026
  • 3 Nov 2025
  • 1 Sep 2025
  • 29 Nov 2021

Current obstacles

  • Proof cost and speedMaking proofs for big batches takes heavy computing. Faster provers mean quicker finality and lower costs.

Physics limits

  • Proving costs far more than runningMaking a STARK takes orders of magnitude more computing than simply running the program. Prover speed and cost set how quickly state can finalise on Ethereum.
  • Proofs are large to verifySTARK proofs run to tens or hundreds of kilobytes, far bigger than older SNARKs, so checking them on Ethereum costs gas. Recursion shrinks this but can't remove it.

How it works

4 parts
A processor seated in its socket: Starknet's S-two prover runs on ordinary chips like this to turn batches of blocks into a STARK proof
A processor seated in its socket: Starknet's S-two prover runs on ordinary chips like this to turn batches of blocks into a STARK proofPhoto: Roman Spiridonov · Unsplash License (opens unsplash.com)
Sequencing

Sequencers order transactions

Since Sept 2025, three sequencers take turns building blocks and agree through consensus, running programs written in Cairo.

Proving

STARK proofs of batches

The S-two prover turns the execution of many blocks into a STARK proof, a short certificate that every step was computed correctly.

Settlement

Ethereum checks the proof

A contract on Ethereum verifies the proof and updates Starknet's state, so results are final without any challenge window.

Hashes

Only hash functions

STARKs rely on hash functions, not elliptic curves or a trusted setup, so they are believed to resist quantum computers.

Update log

6 updates

Jul 2026

  • Minor: BlogResearch

Mon 20 Apr

  • Minor: BlogSoftware

Mon 3 Nov 2025

  • Major: BlogSoftware

Mon 1 Sep 2025

  • Major: BlogSoftware

Tue 20 Feb 2024

  • Minor: BlogOther

Mon 29 Nov 2021

  • Major: BlogSoftware

About StarkWare

The team behind Starknet

StarkWare

STARK proofs, Starknet, Cairo, S-two prover

Israeli company founded by co-inventors of STARKs, a kind of ZK proof that needs no secret setup and relies only on hash functions. It built StarkEx, the Cairo programming language and Starknet, a ZK rollup on Ethereum, plus a fast prover called S-two.

  • STARKs rely on hash functions, not elliptic curves, so they're likely safe against quantum computers.
  • Starknet proves a whole batch of transactions with one proof that Ethereum checks.
  • S-two uses small-number math (the M31 field) to make proofs fast enough for ordinary computers.

starkware.co (opens starkware.co)Company profile →

Founded
20188 yrs
Headquarters
Israel
Status
Private
Valuation
private
Works in
CryptoRollups (L2s)
Coverage
1 program · 7 updateslatest 1 Jul 2026checked 25 Sep
People
Eli Ben-SassonCo-founder & CEO
Primer