Starknet monthly recap #16: October
All you need to know about Starknet in October
Welcome to the 16th edition of my monthly recap, where I bring you the most important updates and developments from the Starknet ecosystem!
📣 Important news of the month
🔷 Starknet Brother
I couldn’t start this monthly newsletter without mentioning Starknet Brother, the new trending meme(coin) on Starknet. Quick recap:
Starknet broke all records this Tuesday (more on that below).
Bankless co-founder @RyanSAdams celebrated this event—without mentioning Starknet.
Odin, StarkWare’s Ecosystem Lead, asked him to give credit to Starknet with a simple “Starknet Brother”.
Ryan replied with a “Starknet Brother”.
Vitalik answered him with a Starknet Brother meme.
The community took it further by creating a memecoin: @StarknetBro (NFA, I’m a bag holder).
Phantom, the leading Solana wallet, joined the party
The rest will be history.
If you’ve seen Starknet Brothers popping up all over X lately, now you know the origin.
Join us on X and become a Starknet Brother (also means Sister btw) too 🥸
🔷 Starknet: Setting new standards in the L2 space
One of the key takeaways this month is that Starknet stack is no longer a bottleneck, both in terms of performance and UX. It’s now become a real advantage for projects and builders. The Flippy Flop campaign, led by Cartridge, showcased this shift.
In terms of performance, it’s simple: on mainnet, Starknet achieved:
Peak TPS: 857
Sustained TPS throughout a whole day: 127, making Starknet the leading L2 by this metric, ahead of Base (80 TPS) and far surpassing zkSync (62 TPS).
Total transactions: 9,726,562
Total cost: $27,385
Average gas fee per transaction: $0.0028
If you want to dive deeper into these metrics: see the official Dune dashboard. And know that even more performance improvements are coming over time as StarkWare and the ecosystem bring further optimizations. You can find the planned ones here.
On the UX front, to participate in the Flippy Flop campaign on Starknet, users didn’t need to:
Create a wallet or keep a seed phrase, thanks to Passkeys
Bridge to Starknet or pay gas fees, thanks to Paymaster
Sign transactions, thanks to Session Keys
ELI5 why this is big:
🔷 Starknet ecosystem expansion
Having top-tier tech is fantastic, but a dynamic and growing ecosystem leveraging that tech is even better. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing on Starknet.
2023 vs. 2024 ecosystem:
And who’s building all these dApps and projects? Developers. So we need more devs over time to keep building for users. Here’s the bullish news—Starknet devs are locked in and growing steadily.
The total number of active Cairo developers on GitHub reached its highest monthly count since January 2023 (see figure 1).
More and more developers are exploring Starknet (see figure 2).
74% of developers stay active on Starknet 12 months after their first contribution (see figure 3).
🔷 EVM Compatibility is almost here on Starknet
Kakarot aims to make Starknet the first DualVM Validity Rollup, enabling different smart contract languages to interact on Starknet—both CairoVM and EVM languages. This expansion will grow the developer pool from around 1,500 (Cairo) to over 20,000 (Cairo + EVM). This is massive and means: more developers can build on Starknet, EVM projects can launch on Starknet more easily (with the same developper experience as on Scroll), and Starknet’s ecosystem will be much more accessible.
One of the biggest impacts is that major bridges (such as LayerZero-powered, Wormhole-powered, Jumper/Lifi, Bungee, Across, and others) will be able to easily integrate Starknet. Currently, no major bridge is connected to Starknet, but I anticipate this will change a few months after Kakarot’s mainnet launch (scheduled for December, or early Q1 2025 at the latest, already live on testnet).
Most importantly, EVM wallets will be able to interact with Starknet dApps, which is a game changer for the UX—no need to install a separate wallet to join Starknet. While Starknet’s native wallets objectively outperform EVM wallets by far, many users prefer to avoid managing multiple wallets. Soon, they’ll be able to use their existing EVM wallets to interact on Starknet. This means millions of EVM users (and even Solana users, thanks to Phantom, the leading Solana wallet with EVM integration) and $80 billion in TVL could flow into Starknet more easily. So no more friction to join Starknet Brothers.
🔷 Starknet accessibility: up only
While waiting for Kakarot, the Starknet accessibility keeps improving on its own.
Three main updates here. First, StarkGate v2.0 is now live on Mainnet, offering more options and a MUCH better UX. As a reminder, StarkGate is Starknet’s official bridge. The previous UX was basic, and this new version is much improved, making the bridging experience far more pleasant (and imagine how much smoother it’ll be with the EVM wallets that Kakarot will bring 👀).
Secondly, Keplr wallet, the leading wallet in the Cosmos ecosystem, has integrated the Starknet network. This means the entire Cosmos community can now interact with Starknet using their favorite wallet. I also know that StarkWare is working in partnership with Informal Systems to integrate Starknet into IBC, facilitating interoperability between Cosmos chains and Starknet. So this is, again, fucking big.
Currently, you can use your Keplr wallet on LayerSwap (bridge), AVNU (DEX aggregator), Nostra (money market), and Carmine (options protocol). Within a few weeks, I believe all Starknet dApps will have integrated it.
Finally, Hyperlane has added support for Starknet, thanks to Pragma, meaning devs will soon be able to leverage Hyperlane-powered bridges to connect other chains to Starknet.
🔷 STRK Staking
Starknet will be the first L2 to introduce staking directly on the L2, marking a big step toward its decentralization. Starknet’s staking and full decentralization plan will unfold in four stages, as detailed here (note: the plan is subject to change). The first stage is already live on Starknet Sepolia, and the mainnet is expected in the coming weeks.
This staking will open up new use cases and business opportunities on Starknet (especially liquid staking and restaking), add a new utility for STRK holders, and bring more decentralization over time.
🔷 Bitcoin Cooking
There isn’t a month without some Bitcoin cooking from StarkWare. This time, @weikengchen, a partner of StarkWare, has implemented a new verifier in Bitcoin script (with OP_CAT enabled). For the diggers out there, feel free to explore the GitHub. For everyone else, know that this brings STARK proofs on Bitcoin closer than ever and ultimately paves the way for Starknet to settle on Bitcoin in the future.
📢 Starknet Ecosystem Update
🔹 AVNU continues to secure its place as the leading trading place of Starknet
Three new major shipping from AVNU this month.
First, AVNU has integrated Haiko Solvers, and Ekubo Oracle pools into its liquidity sources. What does this mean? AVNU offers the most diverse liquidity sources, providing traders with the best possible execution on Starknet.
Second, Argent has integrated AVNU as its swapping service within Argent Portfolio, allowing users to access optimal execution directly through the portfolio.
Finally, AVNU has greatly enhanced the traders UX by automatically listing all ERC20 tokens on its platform as soon as they launch on Starknet. A particularly great news for memecoins tradors and projects.
🔹 Eternum’s new season kicks off in two days with a $20K prize pool
Eternum, the flagship game from the Realms brothers, is launching a new testnet competition to prepare for its upcoming Mainnet launch and test the latest game version. A prize pool of $20K in LORDS tokens will be distributed to the community:
50K LORDS (~$5K) for content creators, plus a 50K bonus possible to grab
100K LORDS for gamers
Check out all the details here. And for a deeper dive into Eternum, read this comprehensive thread.
🔹 The first CLOB DEX on Starknet Mainnet
Layer Akira, Starknet’s first CLOB DEX, is now live on the public Mainnet! Traders can now enjoy optimized rates for the most liquid assets, accessible through both Braavos and Argent wallets. Here is a deep dive thread about it.
🔹 All the data related to Starknet Memecoins and dApps
From Starknet Brother, Slink, and Donkey to PAL… there's now a new community memecoin dashboard that lets you easily track activity and progress of your favorite Starknet memecoins.
Also, dAppRadar has integrated Starknet, so you can now follow metrics for your favorite Starknet dApps directly on it.
🔹 AI Acceleration on Starknet
AI x Blockchain is gaining serious traction, and Starknet is part of this momentum. Ritual, one of the leading AI-focused chains, has announced a partnership with StarkWare to enable developers to integrate AI models directly into their smart contracts.
Additionally, Starknet is participating in a month-long hackathon focused on AI agents, intent-based transaction solutions, in-app assistants, and various use cases for the Brian API. Thanks to this, I believe we’ll see innovative AI agent use cases on Starknet very soon, particularly on UnrugMemecoin and AVNU.
🔹 Three exciting updates for DeFi farmooors
First, all Pendle strategies on Nimbora have resumed full functionality, meaning deposits and withdrawals for Pendle strategies are back to normal.
Secondly, Opus, a new money market introducing Starknet’s first native stablecoin, $CASH, has been added to the DeFi Spring campaign. Users can now earn DeFi Spring incentives by borrowing $CASH.
Finally, Starknet Quest has introduced a feature that lets users claim all their DeFi Spring rewards through a single interface. In this first version, you can claim rewards from Nostra, zkLend, Nimbora, and Ekubo with just one click.
🔹 Alpha Zone 💅
This month, two projects launched on Mainnet:
Layer Akira, Starknet’s first CLOB DEX
Keplr, the leading Cosmos wallet
On Testnet, three new projects have emerged:
SightBet, a new prediction market
Lendasat, enabling Bitcoin-backed loans on Starknet
Kakarot zkEVM, bringing EVM compatibility to Starknet
As for new projects building on Starknet, many have recently popped up:
Happyfarm Ville, a gaming project
P/Dash, another gaming project
TweetleHQ, a TG-based gaming project
Metal Slug, another one gaming project
The Future DeFi, a portfolio management tool
🧑🌾 What did I do on Starknet in October?
In terms of tokens:
I haven’t touched my Ekubo bag (haven’t bought more or sold any); I’m patiently waiting for the market to recognize the project’s true value.
Still a loyal Slink aficionado.
Added to my memecoin palette: Donkey (born from an Eternum game meme) and, as mentioned above, Starknet Brother.
As for DeFi, I’m continuing to farm DeFi Spring on:
Carmine: where I’m providing liquidity with most of my STRK, earning an APY between 30% and 40%.
Nimbora: where I’ve allocated most of my ETH, yielding around 15% APR, and all of my DAI, yielding around 17%.
Vesu: where I’ve placed my USDC (8% APY), along with smaller portions of STRK (5% APY) and ETH (7% APY).
STRKfarm: where I’ve allocated part of my USDC (22% APR). Speaking of STRKfarm, here is a deep dive thread about it.
As always, if you decide to use these protocols, be mindful of the risks and DYOR thoroughly. Same goes for the tokens I mentioned above. Even though I have StarkWare’s approval on Twitter, remember that I’m retarded.
📰 Some of the Best Content of the Month
🔷 Bolt Upgrade: A deep Dive into Starknet’s latest breakthrough
The Bolt upgrade has been marked as a pivotal advancement in Starknet's performance, with the introduction of Parallel Execution of transactions and Block Packing on Mainnet. Thanks to this upgrade, Starknet is now recognized as a leading L2 solution, boasting over 500 TPS capacity, ~$0.002 average gas fees, and a 2-second average waiting time for most transactions. Here is a comprehensive article about it.
🔷 Everything about Starknet
If you want to understand the vision, guiding principles, and everything related to Starknet, here is the most comprehensive Starknet article to date
🔷 StarkWare vision and future
Speaking of vision, here’s an AMA with none other than Eli Ben Sasson, CEO of StarkWare, explaining StarkWare's vision for Starknet.
🔷 Starket bullposting
Here’s a selection of Starknet bullposts:
A tweet from yours truly, explaining why Starknet is in a strong position right now, despite what some may think.
A tweet summarizing recent progress in the Starknet ecosystem and what’s coming next.
A quick and great infographic showcasing Starknet’s characteristics and added value.
🔷 Flippy Flop campaign recap
The Flippy Flop campaign, expertly organized and led by Cartridge, allowed Starknet to showcase its web2-like UX and performance to the world.
Here are two pieces of content that cover what you need to know about it:
None of the content of this newsletter is financial advice. Always do your own research.
Thank you for reading, and see you in November for the next monthly recap ⏳
