StarkWare

StarkWare is a developer of cryptographic proof systems designed to improve the scalability and privacy in blockchains. The company offers proofs that are zero-knowledge, transparent, and post-quantum secure. StarkWare uses its proprietary STARK technology to generate and verify proofs of computational integrity and offers scaling solutions that provide users with a secure, fast, and seamless experience.

The company was founded in 2018 by Uri Kolodny, Alessandro Chiesa, and Eli Ben-Sasson and is headquartered in Netanya, Israel. Founding members were part of the Zcash products, and the company's mission is to improve the scalability and privacy of blockchains through the StarkNet and StarkEx, which run on the ZK-Stark technology developed by StarkWare.

ZK-STARK is a proof system developed by StarkWare. It uses cryptography for polylogarithmic verification resources with proof size, with minimal and post-quantum-secure assumptions. ZK-STARK (which stands for zero knowledge) was invented by StarkWare to enforce the integrity and privacy of computations on blockchains, using cryptographic proofs and modern algebra. This also allows blockchains to move computations to an off-chain STARK provider and verify the integrity of computations using the STARK verifier.

StarkNet is a permissionless and decentralized ZK-Rollup that operates as a layer 2 network over Ethereum. The StarkNet was developed to enable any dApp to achieve scale for its computation without compromising the composability and security of Ethereum's network. StarkNet periodically batches transactions, which are given a ZK-STARK proof to validate the transactions on Ethereum, which allows thousands of transactions to be sent, verified, and batched off-chain to save gas and time by saving Ethereum from having to verify the validity of every transaction on-chain.

In July 2022, the StarkNet token was launched. It is used to operate the StarkNet ecosystem, including maintaining the ecosystem and securing it while offering governance functions, such as voting on the ecosystem's strategic goals, values, and evolution. The token is also required for payment of the transaction fees on the Starknet and participation in the StarkNet consensus mechanism. It is an ERC-20 token built on Ethereum, which will be allocated to StarkNet contributors, including StarkWare, its investors, and development partners.

StarkEx is a layer 2 scalability engine on the Ethereum network with the following features:

• Provides validity proofs to ensure valid data in computations to maintain computation integrity
• Offers scaling capabilities through the uneven division of computation between off-chain prover and on-chain verifier
• Offers self-custodial dApps with anti-censorship mechanisms
• Serves a range of user and application needs
• Ensures privacy through its zero-knowledge proof system