starkware

According to The Block, zero-knowledge proof scaling developer StarkWare announced layoffs and initiated an internal restructuring. Co-founder and CEO Eli Ben-Sasson stated in an all-hands meeting that the company is "overly large" and needs to return to a "startup mode" to accelerate product-market fit. The specific number of layoffs and the timeline have not yet been disclosed, but the company promises to provide severance compensation that exceeds legal requirements.After the restructuring, StarkWare will split into two independent business units: one is a revenue-oriented application department led by current CPO Avihu Levy, focusing on developing monetizable products on its own technology stack; the other is the Starknet development department led by current product head Tom Brand. Each unit will have its own engineering, product, and marketing teams.Strategically, StarkWare plans to fully control the complete blockchain proof technology stack, including Cairo, Sierra, and quantum-resistant STARK cryptography, reducing reliance on external Layer 1 blockchains and application teams. Ben-Sasson stated that the company will shift from "doing many things well" to "doing a few things excellently," focusing on high-potential, high-value directions that only StarkWare can achieve. Additionally, COO Oren Katz has applied for resignation and will officially leave at the end of April.

According to tracking data from the Web3 asset data platform RootData X, over the past 7 days, the largest digital asset exchange globally, Binance, has been the project with the most new followers among X (Twitter) top personalities. New influential figures on X who have followed this project include cryptocurrency trader Loomdart(@loomdart), Zeneca(@Zeneca), and crypto trader James Wynn(@JamesWynnReal).In addition, the projects with the most followers among X top personalities also include Axie Infinity, StarkWare, Ledger, and DeFi Pulse.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, Avihu Levy of StarkWare published a research proposal titled "Quantum-Safe Bitcoin Transactions Without Soft Forks," proposing a quantum-safe Bitcoin scheme called QSB.This scheme aims to enable Bitcoin transactions to resist quantum computing attacks without changing the core rules of Bitcoin. QSB replaces the elliptic curve security mechanism with hash-based assumptions, shifting security to hash preimage resistance to defend against the threat of Shor's algorithm. The scheme operates within the existing script limitations of Bitcoin and does not require consensus changes or soft forks.However, QSB transactions exceed the standard relay strategy limitations and cannot propagate through the network under default settings; they need to be submitted directly to miners through services like Slipstream. The paper estimates that the cost of generating valid transactions using cloud GPUs is approximately $75 to $150. The complete transaction assembly and broadcasting of the project have not yet been demonstrated on-chain.

StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson spoke on X about the potential impact of quantum computing on the crypto industry, calling for a proactive deployment of post-quantum security upgrades across multi-chain ecosystems, including Bitcoin, and proposed a five-step action plan:Acknowledge the threat and clearly recognize that once quantum computers mature, they will pose a severe challenge to the existing public key cryptography system, and take decisive action to implement countermeasures.Enhance education and information dissemination, systematically learn about the current state of quantum computing development and feasible solutions in post-quantum cryptography (PQC), and spread relevant knowledge within the community to raise overall awareness.Organize and invest resources to support and collaborate with post-quantum cryptography experts, promote multiple research and engineering practices, and provide funding and community initiative support for related projects.Listen to expert advice and establish standards, with experts proposing specific technical routes, including the selection of new signature algorithm standards and the reasonable post-quantum security levels required for hash functions.Promote protocol and infrastructure upgrades, introduce new quantum-resistant signature mechanisms at the core protocol layer, and ensure compatibility and integration with key infrastructures such as wallets to ensure a smooth transition.

According to The Block, StarkWare has deployed its next-generation open-source S-two prover on the Starknet mainnet, which the company claims is currently the fastest and most privacy-preserving proof system in production.This upgrade replaces the network's previous proof component, now generating validity proofs for each block, reducing proof time and lowering verification costs, while increasing throughput and scalability without sacrificing trustlessness. S-two (short for "STARK Two") generates zero-knowledge proofs at a speed 10 times faster than the previous system, making previously uneconomical workloads such as real-time transaction engines and zero-knowledge machine learning inference possible by lowering proof costs and increasing block capacity.

ChainCatcher news, Starkware announced on the X platform that it is currently preparing to release the new version Starknet v0.14.1, which will support faster block closures during low activity periods and will deploy the BLAKE hash function (SNIP-34). It is expected to go live on the testnet on November 11 and on the mainnet on November 25.

ChainCatcher news, StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson recently shared his insights on "whether Bitcoin is a currency" on social media. He believes the answer is both yes and no: yes, because Bitcoin has value, gains trust, and is not controlled by the government; no, because its value is difficult to fully realize and it has not yet become a mainstream payment method in everyday economic activities.Ben-Sasson predicts that in the future, Bitcoin will ultimately be used as a currency.

ChainCatcher news, StarkWare has announced the launch of the Delegation Program, aimed at helping to secure the network by authorizing validators (especially smaller validators) and earning rewards in the process, thereby supporting the decentralization of Starknet.As part of this program, StarkWare will gradually delegate millions of STRK to eligible validators to expand the staking pool, improve staking distribution, encourage new validators to participate, and enhance the overall decentralization of the network, with the initial registration period open until July 1, 2025.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, Vitalik and Kakarot supported by StarkWare announced the development of an independent Ethereum zero-knowledge proof (ZK) stack, aiming to achieve real-time Layer 1 block proofs by the end of 2025. Kakarot is built on the Cairo language and uses the STARK system, avoiding reliance on existing mainstream ZK technology stacks, with the goal of enhancing the diversity and system resilience of Ethereum ZK verification, contributing to the goal of full ZK implementation for Ethereum by 2028.

ChainCatcher news, StarkWare, the protocol contributor and development company behind Starknet, announced that it has established a "strategic Bitcoin reserve," and will hold more funds in the form of BTC in the future. StarkWare was valued at $8 billion in its last funding round and is a core contributor to Ethereum's Layer 2 Starknet. Over the past few years, the company has invested more time and resources into Bitcoin research. Currently, StarkWare has not disclosed specific details about how much Bitcoin it holds or plans to acquire.

ChainCatcher message, StarkWare posted on the X platform stating that the dApp zkLend built on Starknet was attacked by hackers. The StarkWare team immediately initiated a coordinated response and took the following steps:Alerted the zkLend team to suspicious activities.Worked closely with cybersecurity firms to investigate the incident.Confirmed that the vulnerability does not involve a flaw in Starknet's core technology, but rather an irreparable application-specific issue.

ChainCatcher news, StarkWare announced that computer science professor Moni Naor has joined its scientific committee as a chief researcher. At StarkWare, he will primarily focus on topics such as Bitcoin cryptography and the decentralization of Starknet.StarkWare stated that Moni has made pioneering contributions to computer science, including groundbreaking research on public key systems resistant to chosen ciphertext attacks, non-malleable cryptography, visual cryptography, and innovative methods for verifying human users (leading to the concept of CAPTCHAs). The first mention of proof of work was proposed by him together with Cynthia Dwork.

ChainCatcher news, StarkWare team member 0d1n fr33 stated that thanks to the on-chain collaborative Telegram game BEAST SLAYERS, the transaction volume on Starknet has reached its highest level since the airdrop.According to Dune data, the number of transactions on Starknet reached 370,000 on October 7, setting a new high since March 15 of this year.

ChainCatcher news, the head of the StarkWare ecosystem posted on the X platform stating that Fractal Bitcoin may have security issues.RPC credentials are hard-coded and cannot be configured via environment variables, and the RPC server is openly exposed and vulnerable to attacks;Allowing RPC connections from any IP address is also very dangerous, exposing users' nodes to potential attacks from anywhere;Certain settings allowing ZeroMQ connections from any IP pose security risks; removing connection limits may lead to resource exhaustion;Official GitHub organizations or repositories are difficult to identify, etc.

ChainCatcher message, StarkWare co-founder and CEO Eli Ben-Sasson posted on the X platform stating, "The biggest problem with cryptocurrency: it is a man's world, lacking sufficient female participation."

ChainCatcher message, StarkWare announced a partnership with sCrypt to build a PoC bridge design using OP_CAT and ZK magic, exploring the construction of a bridge between Bitcoin and L2 specifications.

ChainCatcher news, StarkWare will collaborate with Cosmos contributor Informal Systems to integrate the Cosmos-based IBC protocol on Starknet. This integration will enable Starknet to connect to any IBC-compatible chain, including all chains within the Cosmos ecosystem and other compatible chains outside the system. This integration aims to achieve two main goals for Starknet: to enhance decentralization and interoperability by exploring the Tendermint consensus algorithm and the IBC protocol.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson stated at the ETHCC summit in Brussels, Belgium, that the Layer 2 network Starknet will open staking on its ecosystem by the end of 2024.Ben-Sasson submitted a Starknet Improvement Proposal to the community, suggesting that users can choose whether to become stakers, with rewards proportional to the amount of staked STRK tokens. If the proposal is approved by the community, a staking testnet on Starknet will be launched soon, and it will enter the mainnet in the last quarter of 2024.