Starknet (STRK) simply leveled up with the official launch of Stage 1. In easy phrases, the community has formally hit the primary stage of decentralization, in accordance with L2BEAT. Because of this customers are now not utterly on the mercy of the core staff. Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum co-founder, gave his approval, cementing Starknet’s standing as one of many few Layer 2s he considers value listening to.
Buterin himself was really a part of the STRK token drop final 12 months. He acquired his stash by means of Starknet’s LockedTokenGrant, then quietly moved over 2 million tokens from his Gnosis Secure to an unlabeled pockets about 9 months in the past, in accordance with information from the blockchain.
No feedback had been made, no labels had been positioned — only a silent switch that made the stash invisible to informal observers. It’s unclear whether or not that was a transfer for privateness, custody, or one thing else solely.
Welcome to the stage 1 gang @Starknet! https://t.co/iHKWh2uOOf
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) Could 18, 2025
Stage 1, as outlined by L2BEAT, implies that a community has lastly adopted key security measures. Now, there’s an improve delay, a safety council with members past simply insiders and, importantly, a manner for a minority of the council to intervene if the sequencer begins censoring or malfunctions. Briefly, customers now have a backup plan.
Beforehand, Starknet was in Stage 0 territory, the place every part was based mostly on belief within the builders.
Subsequent is Stage 2, which is the purpose of full decentralization through which no single staff or council can change the principles, censor transactions, or freeze withdrawals. At the moment, nobody has reached this stage. However Starknet says it’s aiming to achieve that time by early 2026.
Furthermore, they aren’t limiting themselves to Ethereum. In the long run, they plan to bridge Ethereum and Bitcoin instantly, making Starknet the primary L2 to function throughout each ecosystems. To again that imaginative and prescient, StarkWare, the core staff, is already stacking ETH and BTC.
