STARKs
In the STARK scheme, only one proof needs to be generated, and the calculation result can be verified in a few simple steps.
With STARKs, larger computations can be performed off-chain, reducing the computational requirements for verification on the blockchain. With just a few on-chain operations, validators can verify large-scale off-chain computations.
The STARKs solution allows for the combination, computation, and verification of thousands of blockchain transactions using a single STARK proof. The processing costs are distributed among a batch of transactions, ensuring the security of Ethereum and reducing gas fees.
The benefit of low computational costs is that it facilitates the construction of new types of applications on the chain, improving user experience, reducing gas costs, and ensuring the security of Ethereum.
StarkEx
StarkWare provides two scalability solutions for Ethereum: StarkEx and StarkNet.
StarkEx offers a permissioned, application-specific scalability solution. With StarkEx, the cost of off-chain computation is significantly reduced. STARK proofs are generated off-chain to verify execution and can cover 12,000-500,000 transactions. At the same time, STARK verifiers can verify these proofs on-chain.
All transactions only need to be verified once, and the gas costs per transaction are remarkably low.
Applications such as dYdX (perpetual trading), Immutable and Sorare (NFT minting and trading), DeversiFi (spot trading), and Celer (DeFi pools) can be found on StarkEx.
To meet market and customer demands, StarkEx is undergoing scalability improvements.
StarkNet
StarkNet is a permissionless Layer 2 network where anyone can deploy smart contracts.
The ecosystem of StarkNet is similar to Ethereum, where any contract can interact with any other contract on StarkNet, and protocols can be freely combined. Additionally, asynchronous message passing allows StarkNet to communicate with Ethereum contracts.
StarkNet's sequencer can batch process transactions, unlike StarkEx, where transactions are submitted by applications. Currently, StarkNet's sequencer is operated by StarkWare, but decentralization is planned for the next step.
Once an application deploys a Cairo contract, there is no need for additional operator infrastructure. StarkNet will support the availability of Rollup data, meaning Rollup states and STARK proofs will be written to Ethereum together.
Developers on StarkNet have built applications, tools, and infrastructure, and functionalities such as DeFi, gaming, voting, and AI are already running on the Testnet. Additionally, StarkNet has established developer tools such as block explorers, local testing environments, and SDKs in various languages.
On the Shamans platform, you can freely propose improvements, new features, and best practices.
Summary
StarkEx and StarkNet are both scalability solutions based on STARK, each offering scalability, low costs, and security, with slightly different operational parameters. For StarkEx, an application with a standalone and compatible StarkEx API may be the most suitable choice.
For those who need to interact synchronously with other protocols or require more functionality than StarkEx provides, using StarkNet may be the better choice.
STARKs have fundamentally changed applications on Ethereum, and at the same time, StarkEx and StarkNet have created more possibilities for blockchain applications.