stark

On October 31, the DeFi strategy platform Troves on Starknet announced that its xWBTC/WBTC treasury was exploited that day, resulting in an initial loss of approximately 8.6 BTC. Troves stated that, according to the investigation as of the time of the announcement, the exploitation was limited to that treasury, and no impact on other Troves treasuries had been found.Troves mentioned that the exploitation involved an old rebalancing contract that retained permissions even after being replaced. The team has revoked the relevant contract permissions and proactively paused the affected and potentially exposed treasuries. The team is continuing to verify the extent of the exposure and is tracking funds with security partners to assess possible recovery options.Troves later updated that approximately 40 minutes after discovering the exploitation, the problematic old contract was revoked, and all rebalancing permissions on its LST treasury were revoked. As a precaution, the three treasuries xWBTC/WBTC, xSTRK/STRK, and xstrkBTC/strkBTC are currently in a paused state. Troves provides automated DeFi strategies on Starknet, and the team stated that a detailed post-analysis and options for affected depositors will be announced after verification.

Starknet posted on platform X stating that account abstraction allows for changing the verification logic while keeping the address, balance, and history unchanged, thus switching to a post-quantum signature scheme without modifying the protocol.Starknet stated that as an Ethereum L2, its settlement, data publishing, and cross-chain bridges still rely on Ethereum and elliptic curve cryptography; researching an independent L1 would allow it to set its own cryptographic schemes and migration timelines. The independent L1 is still a research direction, STRK remains the native token, and there are currently no plans to issue new tokens. Any decision to migrate to L1 must go through a binding governance vote.

Paranoid developer Ignotus Nemo proposed a recursive aggregation scheme for EIP-8288 on the Ethereum research forum, suggesting support for various approved proof sizes to allow smaller proofs for small-scale aggregation. He implemented heterogeneous recursion in the Paranoid system, which has been running both large and small state transition proofs on the public mainnet.The scheme uses a limited set of authenticated validator libraries, processing cross-class delayed validation through independent accumulator channels for each class to ensure the correctness of matrix claims in the recursive steps. When applying this mechanism to EIP-8288, discussions are needed on how to merge subclass libraries, handle dependencies, and address semantic compatibility issues between program identities and validator classes. EIP-8288 was proposed by Vitalik Buterin and Thomas Coratger in June 2026, primarily addressing the issues of large post-quantum signatures and STARK proof sizes, as well as high on-chain verification costs.

According to The Block, holders of Starknet (STRK) supported a research proposal with over 93.5% of the voting power, which aims to explore the transformation of Starknet from an Ethereum Layer 2 network to an independent Layer 1 network with quantum resistance.StarkWare plans to release a draft white paper in November to further investigate the relevant technological pathways. It is important to note that this vote only supports the initiation of transformation research and does not mean that the transformation plan has been officially approved. Further governance approval will still be required to advance the related transformation.

The Starknet Foundation announced the launch of the Bramble wallet, which integrates STRK20 shielding features, allowing users to hold private balances. Currently, Bramble only offers a Chrome browser extension version, with plans to support a broader ecosystem in the future.

According to The Defiant, the DeFi protocol Extended plans to migrate its settlement from Starknet to Arc on October 22.Extended stated that users holding more than 1 USDT or wBTC in their sub-accounts must convert or withdraw to avoid forced liquidation of their accounts; however, the related notice it released provided conflicting deadlines.

The Starknet Foundation announced the launch of the Bramble wallet, which integrates the STRK20 shielding feature, allowing users to hold privacy balances.Bramble is a wallet that only supports the Chrome browser, integrating privacy balances, Ledger hardware signing, and multi-signature account features, and provides recovery mnemonic phrases for backup.

According to The Block, Starknet developer StarkWare has officially opened its privacy trading service OffMarket to the public, allowing users to trade on Polymarket without publicly associating their positions with their accounts.The service has been undergoing limited testing since August, operating based on Starknet's zero-knowledge technology and shared privacy pool. Currently, the USDC deposit limit for each account is set at $1,000, and StarkWare has stated that it will adjust this limit based on demand and usage. Orders are still executed on Polymarket, facing the same buyers and sellers and market prices.OffMarket is completely non-custodial, with users' private keys stored in the browser, and funds held in Starknet's open-source privacy pool. Polymarket positions are held in contracts by wallets derived from user signatures. OpenZeppelin completed an audit of the privacy pool contract in June, finding no serious or high-risk issues, and StarkWare completed formal verification the following month. StarkWare co-founder and CEO Eli Ben-Sasson stated that the project stems from his long-term investment in the field of financial privacy and mentioned that OffMarket is bringing zero-knowledge technology to Polymarket.A spokesperson for StarkWare stated that OffMarket still cannot prevent others from identifying traders through transaction size or timing, and the market, prices, and transactions themselves remain public. Transfers of USDC from the shared pool to new wallets can also be seen.

Ethereum Layer 2 network ZKsync announced the launch of the prover Airbender Prime. ZKsync stated that, to their knowledge, this is the first prover to demonstrate real-time proofs of Ethereum on a single GPU. Airbender Prime is designed for post-quantum security, utilizing hash-based STARK, combined with GKR sumcheck, WHIR polynomial commitment, and BLAKE2s hash; its L1 proof will use a commitment based on Keccak-256 instead of BN254 pairing. This prover is based on the open RISC-V standard and combines real-time proofs with independent validators.In a single GPU evaluation, an NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell completed proofs for 99% of 7200 consecutive Ethereum mainnet blocks, with each block taking less than 10 seconds, including witness preparation; all blocks were completed within 12 seconds. ZKsync claims that Airbender Prime leads in average proof time, GPU efficiency, and cost reported on the ETHproofs public leaderboard, and it already has dual GPU and quad GPU real-time configurations while reducing the hardware requirements for generating proofs.

According to official news, Starknet announced the launch of shadow accounts, allowing users to participate in public DeFi activities through an independent address controlled by themselves, while keeping the association between this address and the main wallet confidential.Shadow accounts are independent pseudonymous addresses on Starknet, with funds sourced from the user's protected STRK20 balance. The first integration will go live tomorrow. The balance, transaction records, and holdings in various applications of the shadow account will still be publicly visible on-chain, but STRK20 can protect the association information between the shadow account and the user's main wallet. This means that users do not need to hide their DeFi activities themselves, while also reducing the likelihood of external observers tracing related activities back to their main wallet.

The Ethereum scaling network Starknet, built by StarkWare, has indicated that it is actively considering transforming into an independent Layer 1 network (L1), with 2027 set as the target date to become the first fully quantum-resistant network. STRK was approximately $0.073 on Friday, up about 20% in 24 hours, more than doubling from around $0.03 in April.StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson stated that after becoming L1, Starknet will be able to control security upgrades independently, without waiting for Ethereum to advance related work. As a Layer 2 network (L2), Starknet currently relies on Ethereum for security; after transitioning to L1, it will verify and secure transactions on its own.Eli Ben-Sasson pointed out that quantum computers may potentially break the elliptic curve cryptography used by Bitcoin and Ethereum in the future, and developments in AI in the field of mathematics also pose another risk. The Ethereum roadmap is expected to complete its core quantum-resistant infrastructure around 2029, while Starknet plans to advance this to 2027; currently, no quantum computer exists that can break these systems.

Starknet published an article introducing the Quantum Secure Bitcoin solution (QSB), stating that StarkWare researchers have verified a quantum secure locking mechanism on the Bitcoin mainnet that does not require a soft fork, new opcodes, or modifications to consensus rules. The first QSB output was completed on August 26, 2026, in Bitcoin mainnet block 964,199, with related GPU computing costs dropping from approximately $320 to about $50.QSB constructs the locking mechanism through hash calculations, but each transaction still requires significant computation, and assets transferred into this solution still need to undergo traditional transactions that are subject to quantum risks. This transaction does not comply with the default relay rules of Bitcoin Core, and currently, there are no accompanying wallets, address formats, or recovery processes. StarkWare stated that QSB is an emergency research solution, and a long-term solution will still need to introduce post-quantum signature mechanisms through a soft fork. The comprehensive quantum security of Starknet also depends on the progress of Ethereum's underlying upgrades.

StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson published an article discussing the necessity of upgrading Starknet to L1 to address threats from the post-quantum era. He pointed out that quantum computing threats may be closer than expected, and the rapid development of AI could break existing security assumptions, necessitating that blockchain enters a "shelter mode" to quickly achieve future-proofing.Key elements include: adopting appropriate cryptographic technologies, having cryptographic flexibility, and becoming an independent L1. As L2, Starknet relies on Ethereum's security. Ethereum aims to achieve full quantum resistance by the end of 2029, while Bitcoin has yet to make such a commitment. If Starknet upgrades to L1, it could achieve this by 2027. This move would allow it to independently control security migration, becoming a quantum-resistant network for public or private transactions and asset holdings.

Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder and CEO of StarkWare, stated that Starknet, as an L2 relying on Ethereum's underlying security, is considering various options, including transitioning to L1, in order to independently control the network security migration process and address the cryptographic risks posed by quantum computing and AI.Starknet is built on ZK-STARK, possesses cryptographic agility, and has developed a post-quantum security migration roadmap. Ethereum plans to achieve full resistance to quantum attacks at L1 by the end of 2029, while Bitcoin has not made a similar commitment. Starknet expects to implement related upgrades as early as 2027.

StarkWare stated in an update on September 23 that the estimated GPU computing cost for preparing a quantum secure Bitcoin (QSB) transaction has dropped to below $67, a decrease of about 79% compared to the approximately $320 computing expenditure for the first similar mainnet transaction in August. According to StarkWare, the first QSB transaction was packaged and confirmed on August 26, with the engineering work completed by Tomer Giladi, and submitted directly through MARA's Slipstream service. The preparation process consumed about 3100 GPU hours, utilized around 100 GPUs, and incurred a computing cost of approximately $320, excluding Bitcoin network transaction fees.This cost reduction resulted from the quantum secure Bitcoin optimization challenge initiated on September 16 by StarkWare, Yukon Research, and Eigen Labs. The challenge invited developers, researchers, and AI agents to optimize transaction construction software, ultimately resulting in 62 adopted improvements across two computational tasks required to prepare a QSB transaction, with benchmark tests showing an estimated computing cost reduction of about 79%. The relevant dashboard currently indicates that the estimated cost has further decreased to $66.The QSB proposal was released by StarkWare researcher Avihu Levy in April, introducing hash-based quantum attack protection for transactions without altering Bitcoin's consensus rules. Due to limited cost, complexity, and applicability, he described it at the time as an emergency measure while continuing to advocate for adjustments at the protocol level.

Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder of Starknet, stated on social media that the recent rise of Zcash (ZEC) is partly due to market concerns that Bitcoin is "too rigid" at the protocol level. He mentioned that he "deeply loves Bitcoin," but still believes that these concerns are real, and noted that some Bitcoin holders have expressed to him that they have shifted part of their positions to ZEC.

Vitalik posted on the X platform, expressing the hope to include the recursive STARK memory pool proposal EIP-8288 in the Ethereum I-star upgrade, stating that it can be seen as the next step after Frames.This proposal allows quantum-safe signature data to be placed off-chain, reducing the cost of signatures; the fuel cost for quantum-safe privacy transactions is also expected to drop from about 10 million to tens of thousands. The proposal relies on frames and recursive STARK aggregated transaction dependencies, with nodes sending a STARK of about 100 to 300KB each time period; the on-chain overhead is one STARK and 96 bytes for each statement to be proven.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that the Poseidon hash function series, developed over many years, has generated significant practical value in Ethereum and other fields, and will continue to play a role in the coming years.Modern privacy protocols can quickly generate SNARK proofs on the client side, and Poseidon is one of the important reasons for this. Vitalik pointed out that today's general-purpose STARK has achieved extremely high performance, with the proof overhead for almost any batch computation reduced to three-digit levels, and it is expected to further drop to two-digit levels or even lower in the future, a development that has even exceeded expectations from the early 2020s.

According to The Block, StarkWare announced that the first quantum-resistant Bitcoin transaction has been successfully executed.StarkWare's Avihu Levy used signature aggregation technology to protect public key data while ensuring that transactions are secure in the Bitcoin mempool, thereby introducing a second layer of security to protect assets.