In Brief:
- Starknet said Oct. 8 it is “actively considering” becoming its own Layer 1 instead of continuing as an Ethereum Layer 2.
- The network said the move would let it become “the first fully quantum-resistant network,” with 2027 as the target.
- Nothing has been decided. Any protocol-level change still needs governance approval, and no timing for a decision was given.
Starknet is considering a break from Ethereum.
“We are actively considering becoming an L1. This would enable Starknet to become the first fully quantum-resistant network, with 2027 as our target,” the network said in a post on X on Thursday, Oct. 8.
Breaking: @Starknet is reportedly exploring a major strategic shift, with the @Ethereum Layer 2 network “actively considering” transitioning into its own Layer 1 blockchain.
The project is also targeting 2027 to become the first fully quantum-resistant network, signaling a
The statement doesn’t commit Starknet to anything. All protocol-level changes require governance approval, and the announcement didn’t say when a decision might come.
Ben-Sasson makes the case
StarkWare co-founder and CEO Eli Ben-Sasson raised the idea with his followers before the announcement, framing it as a question: was “Starknet becoming an L1 for post-quantum agility” a good idea or a bad one?
He pointed to two pressures. The quantum threat, he said, “may be MUCH closer than we think.” And AI is becoming “more powerful than we can process.” Together, he said, the two call for “bunker mode.”
Ben-Sasson said a chain needs three things to be future-proof: the right cryptography, crypto agility and L1 status.
His argument comes down to control. As a Layer 2, Starknet relies on Ethereum for security and publishes its state data to Ethereum as blobs. As an L1, it would verify and secure transactions itself, and Ben-Sasson said that would let Starknet run its own security transition without waiting on Ethereum.
That transition would produce a quantum-resistant network able to support both public and private transactions and asset holdings, according to the proposal.
Two years ahead of Ethereum
The 2027 target would put Starknet ahead of Ethereum, which is aiming for full quantum resistance by the end of 2029.
No quantum computer in existence today can break the cryptography these networks use.
STRK jumps
STRK rallied on the news. As of 7:15 p.m. UTC on Oct. 8, the token traded at $0.05871, up 19.2% in 24 hours, after moving between $0.04831 and $0.06222.
Trading volume over that stretch reached $229.46 million. STRK’s market cap stood at $429.534 million, with a fully diluted valuation of $578.735 million.
Circulating supply is 7.422 billion tokens out of a 10 billion max. The token is still 98.7% below its all-time high of $4.41, and 160.4% above its all-time low of $0.02221.
Total value locked on Starknet was $312.751 million.
The existing roadmap
The L1 discussion builds on a three-phase quantum-resistance roadmap StarkWare has already published.
Phase one replaces Pedersen hashing with BLAKE2 across the state, chain environment and consensus layers, and brings in post-quantum consensus signatures such as Falcon-512. Phase two migrates existing contracts. Phase three deals with Starknet’s remaining Ethereum dependencies: bridge messaging and blob data availability.
That third phase is where an L1 transition comes in. Becoming an L1 would require Starknet to build its own security and validator framework, along with a path to move users and applications over.
Groundwork already in place
StarkWare has run an experimental mainnet transfer using Falcon-512 signatures. Outside teams are working on the problem too. S2morrow has built a Falcon-512 account in Cairo, and OpenZeppelin is developing a post-quantum account contract.
Starknet has said its STARK-based proving system and programmable accounts give it a base for quantum-resistant upgrades.
StarkWare’s June 30 roadmap lays out why: “Starknet’s architecture relies on STARK proofs, which are based on collision-resistant hash functions rather than elliptic-curve arithmetic.”
