Checking out Starkware
I decided to check out some L2 chains and got interested in Starkware for several reasons:
- They have a python based contract language called cairo. I love python, and probably the only reason I managed to learn machine learning in 4 months was because it was mostly in python
- ImmutableX, built on Starkware, announced an NFT partnership with TikTok, so I expect the project will have lots of new users
- dydx, a fairly sophisticated derivatives dex, also built on Starkware.
So I feel like fairly large organizations have evaluated the tech and found it useful.
Let's jump in.
Some quick data, STARKs are a successor to Zcash. Zcash had bottlenecks that were unfixable and Eli Ben-Sassoon, the Israeli researcher behind Zcash decided to move on the create Starkware.