Starknet activated update v0.14: commissions dropped to $0.001, and native staking was opened for STRK holders
The developers of the ZK-Rollup network of Starknet have activated the major upgrade v0.14 on the main Ethereum network. StarkWare co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson announced on his page on the social network X (@EliBenSasson) that the network has moved to the first stage of decentralization and launched native staking of the STRK coin.
At the same time, the Starknet Foundation team published in a blog the results of the prover optimization: thanks to advanced compression of transaction data and recursive STARK proofs, fees for typical transactions dropped to $0.001 (less than a tenth of a cent). According to L2Beat monitoring data, Starknet has become one of the cheapest L2 blockchains on Ethereum, having overtaken the economics of the Arbitrum and Base networks.
How does STRK-staking work and what kind of return will holders receive?
The project team has published instructions on connecting validators and delegation:
- Entry threshold for retail investors: You can delegate coins from 1 STRK through Argent X and Braavos wallets without transferring private keys. To launch your own validator node, you will need a deposit of 20,000 STRK.
- Expected income (APY 8–11%): Eli Ben-Sasson clarified that the rewards are paid from the network issue and collected commissions. Profitability depends on the total volume of coins staked.
- Withdrawal: The blocking period for coin withdrawal (unbonding) is 21 days.
What-does-this-change-for-defi-and-gaming-users?
Reducing transaction costs to $0.001 allows you to trade micro-volumes on the decentralized exchanges Ekubo and mySwap without losing your gas deposit. In addition, the Starknet Foundation has allocated 50 million STRK in grants to liquid staking (LST) developers, so staked coins can soon be used as collateral in lending protocols.
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