What is ZK-STARK?

STARK is a proof system.

ZK-STARKs, invented by StarkWare (a company), enforce the integrity and privacy of computations on blockchains, using novel cryptographic proofs and modern algebra.

STARKs allow the underlying blockchains to move transactions to an off-chain prover, who then uses an on-chain verifier to verify these transactions.

Firstly, Starkware is a company with two products:

• StarkEx

• StarkNet

I am going to focus on StarkNet, but a quick TLDR on StarkEx.

What is StarkEx?

StarkEx is a standalone, customizable Layer-2 SAAS (Software as a Service) for exchanges that uses the STARK proof system in order to provide massive scaling.

Last week StarkEx did roughly 33% more transactions than Ethereum layer one.

It has been used by projects such as @dYdX, @Sorare and @Immutable.

For context:

@dYdX generated $60 million in revenue over the last 30 days. The second most of any protocol in crypto (data from @tokenterminal).

What is ZK-STARK?

STARK is a proof system.

ZK-STARKs, invented by StarkWare (a company), enforce the integrity and privacy of computations on blockchains, using novel cryptographic proofs and modern algebra.

STARKs allow the underlying blockchains to move transactions to an off-chain prover, who then uses an on-chain verifier to verify these transactions.

Firstly, Starkware is a company with two products:

• StarkEx

• StarkNet

I am going to focus on StarkNet, but a quick TLDR on StarkEx.

What is StarkEx?

StarkEx is a standalone, customizable Layer-2 SAAS (Software as a Service) for exchanges that uses the STARK proof system in order to provide massive scaling.

Last week StarkEx did roughly 33% more transactions than Ethereum layer one.

It has been used by projects such as @dYdX, @Sorare and @Immutable.

For context:

@dYdX generated $60 million in revenue over the last 30 days. The second most of any protocol in crypto (data from @tokenterminal).