StarkWare to Open Source Its Ethereum Scaling System

StarkWare, a creator of blockchain scaling systems that has reached an $8 billion valuation last year, announced plans on Monday to open source its core cryptographic software tool.

The technology of Israel-based StarkWare tackles the scalability issues of Ethereum, which cause slow throughput and high gas or transaction fees. The company has two platforms: the StarkEx scaling engine and StarkNet, which puts the technologies in the hands of developers building decentralized applications (dapps). StarkWare plans to open source the STARK Prover technology that powers those projects.

The announcement was made during the two-day StarkWare Sessions 2023 event in Tel Aviv, Israel. The company said the plan to open source will take time to implement, but StarkWare is committed to making the entire tech stack transparent for developers.

“Every step we take to provide infrastructure, and to make it accessible and decentralized, is a catalyst for devs to build,” StarkWare co-founder and President Eli Ben-Sasson said in a statement at the summit. “And the quicker and more broadly they build, the faster we’ll see mass onboarding to solutions that truly enable people to manage their own funds. So there’s a direct line between open-sourcing key tech and popularizing self-custody.”

Crypto infrastructure projects have an increased profile after the collapse of centralized crypto exchange FTX. In January, investments in crypto companies fell 91% year over year as backers moved away from centralized finance projects. Infrastructure, however, remained relatively strong and was the highest-earning vertical.

Read more: StarkWare Launches Nonprofit Foundation to Fuel StarkNet Ecosystem

UPDATE (UTC 14:38): Removes extraneous text.