Starknet Launches New Staking and Major Network Upgrades

• Starknet’s new staking mechanism, approved with 98.94% support, launches in Q4 2024.
• Snapshot X governance vote highlights the need for broader Starknet community engagement.
• Starknet’s 0.13.2 update boosts transaction speed with parallel execution and block packing.

Starknet has enhanced the network governance, and the decision-making process, including the proposal of a new staking mechanism. The latest voting was conducted on Snapshot X, a decentralized platform, in which the majority of voters supported the given amendment. However, it is noteworthy that only 0.08% of registered voters cast their vote in favour, while 0.45% abstained, and 0.61% opposed the initiative.

New Staking Feature

This staking feature has been approved and will go live in the fourth quarter of this year. Users staking over 20,000 STRK on the network must do so to provide security and increase participation. This is intended to expand the ecosystem by incentivising token holders to be active while contributing to the overall health and security of Starknet as an infrastructure.

Minting Mechanism Approved

Minting was also approved during the voting process. This preserves the stability of staking rewards and the proper function of inflation mechanisms, which don’t diminish due to user token rewards. Staking and minting are a two-fold solution that ensures the sustainability of the network and the preservation of its tokens.

Low Voter Participation

The successful vote is a step in the right direction, but it indicates that more needs to be done regarding community engagement. Most respondents agree to the proposal, which shows that they support it. However, due to the limited number of participants, we have to work harder to reach a larger audience on the topic of governance on Starknet.

Snapshot X Innovation

This vote took place on Snapshot X, a new governance protocol that utilises roll-up technology provided by Starknet. They remove gas fees to allow users to transact on-chain at a low price point and faster governance processes. To further enhance voter security and accessibility, Snapshot X can confirm asset ownership from StarkNet’s storage proofs cross-chain, eliminating the need for any form of transfer.

In addition to governance updates, Starknet has also rolled out a major upgrade to its network. The new version, 0.13.2, introduces parallel transaction execution on Ethereum, allowing the network to process multiple transactions at once. This advancement reduces network congestion and significantly speeds up transaction times.

Faster Block Confirmation

The latest updates include block packing, which helps fit more transactions into each block. That cuts confirmation time from 80 seconds to just 2 seconds. These changes aim to improve Starknet’s performance on the Ethereum network, allowing it to use block space more efficiently than traditional blockchains.