OPRR Flash Depth Activities

Search Extension

StarkWare Ecology: Who wins StarkEx versus StarkNet in innovation?

以南说

23-04-24 21:00

Read this article in 31 Minutes

AI summary

View the summary

Original title: The StarkWare Empire: Exploring the Innovation Journey of StarkEx and StarkNet

Source: Yinan, PANews

background

Starting in 2018, StarkWare pioneered the use of STARK Validation to address Ethereum's scalability issues. It launched StarkEx, based on the SaaS business model, created the Cairo programming language, and built Starknet, the first decentralized network in production that allows you to write custom logic.

StarkWare is committed to the dual focus of technology, mathematics, innovation and product delivery; Support other teams pushing Ethereum and/or STARK; And efforts to open source, decentralize and focus STARK as a public good.

Going forward, StarkWare will aim to make Starknet a permissionless decentralized effectiveness rollup governed by the Starknet Foundation and focus on decentralizing Starknet's various components, Examples include Prover, Sequencer and governance.

STARK Technologies is based on proof, specifically proof of integrity. STARK uses mathematics to ensure completeness, even when no one is watching. The concept of this technique began with a 1991 article by Lszl Babai, Lance Fortnow, Leonid Levin, and Mario Szegedy, which introduced the concept of using a single reliable computer to monitor a group of unreliable supercomputers. The technique, known as "PCP," uses mathematics to monitor and ensure the integrity of large computations.

STARK Technologies is an improved version of PCP technology that allows small users to check and ensure that large companies, monopolies, or governments are operating properly. Blockchain restores the peer-to-peer nature of money exchange, eliminating the need for trusted intermediaries. Ethereum takes the concept a step further, allowing the creation of common applications that form the basis of a social economy.

Starkware:

StarkWare is one of the best companies within the zk rollups circuit, founded by Professor Eli Ben-Sasson of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (zk SNARK & zk STARK's co-inventor), which provides STARK technology-based solutions for the blockchain industry. Currently, two products have been developed:StarkEx & StarkNet, are described below.

Starkware Team

Eli Ben-Sasson, Co-Founder & Chief Scientist, professor of computer science at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

Founding scientist of Zcash and inventor of zkSNARKs.

Alessandro Chiesa, Co-Founder & Chief scientist, professor of computer science at UC Berkeley.

Founding Scientist of Zcash, co-inventor of zk-SNARKs, and core developer of libsnark.

Kolodny: Co-Founder & CEO, Uri is a serial entrepreneur with extensive business experience and collaboration.

Michael Riabzev, Co-Founder & Chief Architect. Ph.D., Israel Institute of Technology, worked at Intel, IBM. Oren Katz: Vice President of Engineering. Graduated from Hebrew University in Computer Science, Tel Aviv MBA, 20 years of experience as a senior engineer.

financing

Currently, the company is valued at $8 billion, backed by Vitalik, Paradigm, Sequioa and others, making it the most highly valued team in the expansion field.

StarkEx

An application-specific Layer-2 extension engine based on the Ethereum blockchain, designed to solve scalability problems in Layer-1 blockchain networks such as Ethereum. StarkEx enables fast, low-cost transactions without compromising security, privacy, and self-custody by using an advanced cryptography system called STARK Proof.

It provides a series of application processes for inexpensive off-chain computing, packaging multiple transactions in a STARK proof and then verifying them on-chain, reducing the average fuel cost per transaction. The StarkEx extension engine works in four steps: batch processing, validation and update, proof generation, and on-chain validation.

StarkEx has been successfully deployed in several applications, such as dYdX, Immutable, Sorare, DeversiFi, and Celer.

The difference with StarkNet is that:

StarkEx and StarkNet are two different technologies developed by StarkWare that both use the STARK Zero Knowledge Proof technique, but have different goals and uses.

1. StarkEx: StarkEx is an application-specific Layer-2 extension engine focused on optimizing the performance of a single application on the Ethereum blockchain. It enables faster, lower cost transactions by processing multiple transactions in batches and verifying them down the chain. It is mainly used for decentralized exchanges (DEX), NFT markets and games.

2. Using STARK Proof technology, StarkEx provides a secure, efficient and low-cost trading experience. StarkNet is a more general, complete, permission-free Layer-2 solution that provides a decentralized computing platform for the entire Ethereum ecosystem where developers can deploy smart contracts written in the Cairo language.

StarkNet supports interaction with other contracts, allows for a rich portfolio of protocols, and can interact with Ethereum contracts via asynchronous messaging. The goal is to provide a scalable, low-cost, and secure environment on which developers can build and deploy smart contracts. Unlike StarkEx, StarkNet can be seen as a comprehensive Layer-2 operating system, allowing developers to create a variety of decentralized applications rather than just a purpose-specific solution.

In summary, StarkEx is an application-specific Layer-2 extension engine focused on performance optimization for specific applications, while StarkNet is a more general, comprehensive Layer-2 solution designed to provide a decentralized computing platform for the entire Ethereum ecosystem.

Starknet

Starknet is a permission-free decentralized validity folding network (A.K.A"ZK-Rollup"). It operates as the L2 network on Ethereum, enabling any dApp to achieve infinitely scalable computing without compromising Ethereum's compotability and security, thanks to Starknet's reliance on STARK, the most secure and scalable cryptographic proof system.

The Starknet contract and Starknet operating system are written in Cairo - enabling the deployment and extension of any use case, regardless of the business logic. Starknet is a decentralized Layer 2 networking solution designed to provide greater scalability and performance for decentralized applications (DApps). By running on Ethereum, it can take advantage of existing infrastructure and security while providing higher computing power.

Cairo is a programming language designed for Starknet to simplify the development and deployment of smart contracts. With Cairo, developers can easily build highly extensible applications for a variety of use cases, including finance, gaming, supply chain, and more.

Starknet is a validity rollup, meaning that the execution within each block needs to be proven, which is where STARKs comes in handy. However, STARK proofs can resolve statements formulated in polynomial constraint languages and have no knowledge of smart contract execution. To overcome this gap, Cairo was developed.

Overall, Starknet is a promising layer 2 networking solution that enables existing DApps to take a significant step forward in scalability and performance. Using the STARK Cryptographic proof system and the Cairo programming language, Starknet provides developers with a powerful and flexible platform to meet a variety of business needs.

Version update

What happens next? Starknet Alpha v0.11.0: The transition to Cairo 1.0 begins

- Further language improvements to Cairo 1.0

- Performance improvements: As promised, Starknet continues on track to significantly improve TPS. The next step in the roadmap is to transition to the Rust Sequencer, which is publicly developed under the Apache 2.0 license. The new sequencer will use Rust CairoVM and Papyrus full nodes to forma Performance Trio.

-Da down the chain

In this release, Starknet handles the calculation portion of transaction costs. In the upcoming release, it will address on-chain data costs, which are the main cost of the average transaction today.

Here's a further note on Starknet's sequencer:

Sequencer refers to StarkNet Sequencer, a part of StarkNet that aims to significantly increase throughput (number of transactions per second) by switching to Rust Sequencer and using Rust CairoVM and Papyrus full nodes, resulting in a "performance trio".

The "Performance Trio" refers to the three components of StarkNet Sequencer: the Rust Sequencer, the Rust CairoVM, and the Papyrus Full Node. Among them, the Rust Sequencer is at the heart of StarkNet Sequencer, which processes transactions and generates blocks. Rust CairoVM is a virtual machine that runs smart contracts on StarkNet. The Papyrus Full node is a node in the StarkNet network that stores all data on StarkNet and can process transactions. Together, these three parts can significantly increase StarkNet's throughput (number of transactions per second).

Starknet v0.11.0 (currently only on Goerli beta Web)

Starknet v0.11.0 will be released on the main Net once the Goerli beta period is over.

Starknet v0.10.3 (12/22, 12/12)

Performance -- Separate state commitment calculation from transaction execution by adding the Starknet-class-hash command to calculate the class hash of the compiled Starknet contract

Starknet v0.10.2 (11/29, 22)

This version introduces sequencer parallelization! A new endpoint estimate_fee_bulk was added to the feeder gateway. This will allow the cost of several transactions to be estimated simultaneously, with each transaction executed relative to the resulting state of the previous transaction applied.

Starknet v0.10.1 (10/25/22)

Add the DeployAccount trade (which replaces the Deploy trade to deploy account contracts). To use it, you should first add enough money to your account address to cover transaction costs, You can then call DeployAccount to split the starknet deploy_accountCLI command into starknet new_account and starknet deploy_account Account contracts deployed in this manner are expected to implement the validate_deployAccount () entry point, which should check the signature improvement L1 fee calculation: Calculate the fee based on differences in storage status API: entry_point_type Removes fields from the transaction information

Starknet v0.10.0 (September 5, 22)

This release covers the next steps in Starknet account abstraction design, specifically the verification/execution separation.

Starknet v0.9.1 (July 20, 22)

API changes star CLI

Starknet v0.9.0 (June 6, 22)

This version brings the contract class/instance paradigm to Starknet

About the account

Ethereum account structure

In Ethereum, individual user Accounts are referred to as Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs).

EOAs are different from smart contracts because they are not controlled by code. An EOA is defined by a pair of private and public keys.

The account's address is derived from these keys, and transactions can only be initiated from the account if you have a private key. While Ethereum contracts are "passive," meaning they can only change when called in a transaction, EOAs can initiate a transaction.

Despite its simplicity, EOAs has one major drawback: there is no flexibility in account behavior, and the Ethereum protocol dictates when transactions initiated by the EOAs are valid (the signature scheme is fixed). In particular, control of the public key gives complete control over the account. Although in theory this is a secure approach to account management, in practice it has some drawbacks, such as requiring you to secure the torrent phrase while making it accessible to you, and limited flexibility in wallet functionality.

Ip-4337 is a design proposal for Ethereum that Outlines account abstraction for managing all accounts through dedicated smart contracts on the Ethereum network to improve flexibility and availability. You can add custom logic on top of basic EOA functionality to bring account abstraction to Ethereum.

What is account abstraction?

The idea behind account abstraction is to allow for more flexibility in the management of accounts, rather than allowing their behaviour to be determined at a protocol level. This can be achieved by introducing account contracts - smart contracts with programmable logic that determine the user's account behavior.

By using account abstraction, you can now program your account functionality.

For example, you could:

Determine what a valid signature means, or what contracts your account is allowed to interact with. This is called "signature abstraction" paying transaction fees with different tokens - this is sometimes called "fee abstraction" designing its own replay protection mechanism and allowing multiple unrelated transactions to be sent in parallel. Compare this to the sequential nonce solution used in Ethereum, which results in transactions being sequential in nature, and even if you want to send two transactions in parallel, you have to wait for some confirmation of the first transaction before sending the second. Otherwise, the second transaction may be rejected due to an invalid nonce. Using account abstraction, you can discuss different solutions to bypass the sequential nonce requirement. This is called "nonce abstraction".

Today, Starknet offers signature abstraction. In the future, Starknet will enrich the abstract design of current accounts.

Two examples of custom account functionality using account abstraction

Social Recovery This is a process that allows you to retrieve your wallet when you lose it through the social network of your choice, greatly improving the typical experience of wallet recovery. With signature abstraction, you can sign transactions using the phone's native hardware, making it virtually impossible to take over another user's account (even if the phone itself is stolen).

These examples show how account abstraction can be leveraged to provide users with a more flexible, secure and highly customized wallet and account management experience. By writing custom logic, users can customize account functions based on their needs and preferences, improving both security and ease of use.

The Starknet account contract must include the following two functions

validate

execute

These functions serve different purposes to ensure that only the account owner can initiate transactions and can charge you for the resources you use.

Starknet's account type is inspired by Ethereum EIP-4337, where you now use smart contract accounts with arbitrary verification logic instead of EOAs (externally owned accounts).

Complete flexibility is gained in account implementation through the use of smart contracts.

Although not mandatory at the protocol level, the community developed a richer standard account interface. The standard was developed by OpenZeppelin, working closely with the wallet team and other core Starknet developers.

Token economics:

The role of the token

Transaction costs:

Currently, StarkNet is paid in ether (ETH). But later, we expect the fee to be paid entirely with native StarkNet tokens. To support a good user experience, automated and decentralized on-chain mechanisms will allow users to pay in ETH.

Pledge:

Certain services essential to StarkNet's viability and security may require StarkNet tokens to be pledged. These services may include sequencing, reaching a provisional L2 consensus before reaching the L1 final result, STARK proof services, and data availability provisioning.

Governance:

The proposal to improve StarkNet will require a minimum token support threshold, defined later. All changes to protocols that are critical to StarkNet's viability, security, and maintenance require a vote either directly or by proxy. For example, all major updates to StarkNet's operating system require token holder approval.

Total: 10 billion. Initial allocation of Tokens: Token Economics

17% -- StarkWare Investors

32.9% & have spent -- Core contributors: StarkWare, its employees and consultants, and StarkNet software development partners

StarkWare grants 50.1% to the Foundation for the following purposes:

9% -- Community Replenishment: Awards to people who work for StarkNet and support its underlying technology, such as those who used StarkEx L2 systems in the past. Importantly, all community replenishment will be based on verifiable work done in the past. For example, for past StarkEx users, allocations will be determined based on verifiable StarkEx technology usage that occurred prior to June 1, 2022.

9% -- Community Rebate: Part to cover the cost of transferring from Ethereum to StarkNet. To prevent gamification, community rebates only apply to transactions that occur after the rebate mechanism is announced.

12% - Funding for research and development, testing, deployment, and maintenance of the StarkNet protocol.

10% -- Strategic reserves to fund ecosystem activities aligned with the Foundation's mission.

2% -- Donations to highly respected institutions and organizations, such as universities, ngos, etc., to be jointly determined by StarkNet token holders and the Foundation.

8.1% -- Unallocated: The Foundation's unallocated financial reserves will be used to further support the StarkNet community in a manner determined by the community.

In order to align long-term incentives for core contributors and investors with the interests of the StarkNet community and follow the conventions of a decentralized ecosystem, all tokens allocated to core contributors and investors will be subject to a 4-year lock-up period, with a linear release and a one-year cliff.

If you are an end user, use StarkNet only if it meets your current needs. Use it for transactions and applications that you value, rather than expecting future returns from StarkNet tokens. When Community Feed is announced, they will only relate to snapshots that occurred prior to the date of the announcement, and filter and exclude usage that is considered abusive and manipulative of the network, based on the information available at the time. When community rebates were set up, they would never apply to transactions that took place before the rebate was announced, so it would be futile to trade today expecting future rebates.

Based on the above summary analysis of token economics:

The first 9% of the community supply is likely to be airdropped to users, meaning that users are divided among the 450 million people who work for Starknet and provide technical support and development.

The second 9% community rebate is used for the commission subsidy after the publication of the subsequent rebate rules. It is useless to brush the commission before the publication of the rules.

The third 10% strategic reserve is for on-chain ecological applications, allocated to ecological application protocols.

Business model sells a customized technology engine service called StarkEx, which directly charges service fees to customers who need capacity expansion, essentially a customized 2B service. Build a decentralized Layer2 network StarkNet to support the self-deployment of dApp. It can charge users the transaction fees of Layer2, obtain the value of MEV through the auction mechanism of sequencer, and issue tokens in the future. Incubate StarkNet projects with technology and funding to drive ecological development through tokenomics.

To sum up:

StarkWare is one of the best companies in the zk rollups circuit, with products like StarkEX and StarkNet.

StarkEx is a Layer2 extension engine that provides technical services for DApps.

StarkNet is a more general, complete Layer-2 solution that does not require a license.

The team has more than 80 members, and the core members are quite impressive. Eli Ben-Sasson is the founding scientist of Zcash, the inventor of zkSNARKs, has a deep research and influence in the ZK-Rollup field, and is currently valued at $8 billion. Top VCS and individuals like paradigm, Pantera, polychain, and Vgod are all backers of StarkWare.

In the case of ecological applications, the Cairo language is not compatible with EVMs, so the ecological development is slow. We are now transitioning to Cairo 1.0, towards a higher level of TPS. Even so, the current application experience is not very smooth. There is still a gap between technology and reality. I hope to see better development of Starknet in the future.