Starknet, an open-source framework developed by Israeli-based company StarkWare, has been turning heads as it aims to bring scalability and privacy to decentralized applications (dApps) built on Ethereum. In recent months, various DeFi apps on the network have experienced significant growth, with Starknet’s total value locked (TVL) reaching a new all-time high of $10.49 million. This marks a ten-fold increase from the $1.449 million recorded at the beginning of March, according to DefiLlama.
TVL is a widely used metric in decentralized finance (DeFi) to measure the total value of assets deposited or locked within a particular protocol, platform, or smart contract. It serves as an indicator of a project’s overall activity and popularity. Starknet was created to tackle limitations of the Ethereum blockchain, such as high transaction fees and slow transaction processing times. It does this by enabling off-chain computations and data storage, without compromising the security guarantees of blockchain technology.
StarkWare president and co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson acknowledges that although he cannot give investment advice, many developers comprehend the need for new, safe, and battle-tested technologies to meet global demand for Ethereum’s scale. He adds that Starknet is already considered a “hell of a technology stack.”
To accomplish its goal, Starknet leverages a layer-2 scaling technique known as zero-knowledge rollups, allowing it to bundle hundreds of thousands of transactions off-chain and verify them on-chain for just a fraction of the cost. Despite its current TVL being lower than that of other protocols in the same category, Starknet’s TVL has skyrocketed from just about $800,000 at the start of this year.
JediSwap, a fully permissionless AMM, takes up more than 57% (over $6 million) of Starknet’s TVL dominance. This allows users to swap, earn, and build instantaneously on a decentralized, community-driven protocol. Other members in the layer-2 market, such as Arbitrum and Optimism, command TVLs of $2.4 billion and $884 million, respectively.
StarkWare’s chief attributes Starknet’s growing popularity to Cairo, a Rust-inspired programming language touted as the “most modern and best smart contract language out there.” Developers are flocking to Cairo due to its appeal. Additionally, Ben-Sasson mentions the upcoming release of network version 0.12 in June as another reason for the excitement surrounding Starknet: this upgrade is expected to significantly increase the network’s throughput.
While it’s clear that Starknet’s progress is impressive, it remains crucial to keep a balanced view and consider potential drawbacks that might emerge as the project continues to grow. Only time will tell if Starknet can maintain its impressive momentum and fulfill its ambitious goals within the ever-evolving DeFi space.
Source: Decrypt
