StarkWare Implements Quantum Leap Upgrade, Increasing Throughput on the StarkNet Layer 2 Network
StarkWare, the Ethereum scaling team, successfully deployed the Quantum Leap upgrade for the StarkNet Layer 2 network on July 12. During its public testnet phase, Quantum Leap consistently achieved a throughput of 37 transactions per second (TPS), with peak performance reaching 90 TPS. Additionally, transaction inclusion latency regularly drops below 10 seconds, exceeding StarkWare’s target of 15 seconds and in line with Ethereum mainnet standards.
According to Uri Kolodny, co-founder and CEO of StarkWare, the better throughput and faster transaction inclusion facilitated by Quantum Leap will pave the way for accelerated development in multiple fields. These include faster decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, realistic triple-A game creation, and availability of more consumer services on the Web3 technology stack.
After eight days of testnet activity and governance proposals with an overwhelming 97.9% support, adoption of the Quantum Leap mainnet marks a landmark milestone for StarkNet.
StarkNet emerges as a pioneer of Layer 2 networks leveraging zero-knowledge (ZK) proof when its mainnet rollout begins in late 2021. Zero-knowledge technology has become well-known among Ethereum’s top scaling teams, with projects such as zkSync, Polygon, and ConsenSys introduced the “zkEVM” rollup in the last few months. This rollup is a guaranteed Layer 2 solution with zero-knowledge proofs and is compatible with code written for Ethereum’s smart contract engine, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
Unlike its competitors, StarkNet is not EVM compatible. This means that dApps and protocol developers operating on Ethereum will have to recompile their code in Cairo, the native language of StarkNet, to deploy on the network.
Despite these differences, StarkWare aims to entice developers to migrate to its network by taking advantage of its impressive throughput capabilities. StarkWare anticipates the release of validium in the near future, which will unlock further scalability benefits of “an order of magnitude.” Validium, similar to a rollup, stores most transaction data off-chain, allowing for additional scalability improvements.
Currently, the Ethereum mainnet processes around 12 TPS daily, peaking at 22.4 in December, according to L2beat. Regarding Layer 2 solutions, zkSync Era takes second place with 11.33 TPS, followed by Arbitrum One with 8.6 TPS. With the Quantum Leap upgrade, StarkNet aims to increase the scalability and performance of decentralized applications, further advancing the growth and adoption of the Ethereum ecosystem.
