Disclaimer: Nansen has produced the following report in collaboration with Slice Analytics as part of its existing contract for services provided to Starknet (the "Customer") at the time of publication. While Starknet has the right to review and provide feedback to Nansen, Nansen maintains full editorial control over the publication of this report. All views expressed are the independent opinions of Nansen's research analyst(s) who are the author(s) named in this report. This report is intended for informational purposes only and does not serve as investment, financial, professional, or other advice. For more information, please refer to the disclaimer at the end of this report, as well as our Terms of Service.

Overview

Starknet is a decentralized, permissionless Layer 2 ZK-rollup built on Ethereum, leveraging STARK proofs to deliver massive scalability, low transaction costs, and high security without compromising decentralization. By executing transactions off-chain and submitting succinct validity proofs to Ethereum, Starknet enables developers to deploy and interact with smart contracts at scale while inheriting Ethereum’s security guarantees. Its native smart contract language, Cairo, is optimized for zero-knowledge computations, supporting complex applications across DeFi, gaming, and beyond. With features like account abstraction, high throughput, and growing interoperability - including planned settlement on both Ethereum and Bitcoin - Starknet is designed as a universal execution layer for a multi-chain future.

H1 2025 marked a pivotal milestone for Starknet’s developer ecosystem with the public release of the SN Stack, empowering builders to launch custom appchains using the same high-performance, low-cost ZK technology that underpins Starknet itself. Drawing from production-proven deployments for projects like dYdX, Immutable, and Sorare, the SN Stack offers over 1,000 TPS at sub-$0.01 transaction costs, robust security, and modular flexibility through three configurations - StarkWare Sequencer, Madara, and Dojo. Complementary advances further expanded developer capabilities, including the Garaga SDK for verifying Noir ZK proofs without Cairo coding, the v0.13.5 upgrade with stateful compression and L2 gas for predictable fees, and strategic partnerships such as AltLayer for rapid RaaS deployments. Together, these developments deepen Starknet’s positioning as a modular execution layer capable of supporting finance, gaming, and high-throughput applications at scale.

Beyond core infrastructure, the first half of 2025 saw notable momentum across Starknet’s DeFi, gaming, and Bitcoin-integration fronts. In DeFi, integrations like Braavos' Lightning Network STRK payments, Atomiq's trustless BTC→wBTC swaps, Garden's BTC liquidity bridge, Xverse BTC↔STRK swaps, and Lombard's announced the upcoming release of LBTC, a liquid-staked Bitcoin token fully backed 1:1 by real Bitcoin. The Bitcoin roadmap accelerated with Asset Runes for Bitcoin-native tokenized assets, the Broly POC for onchain Bitcoin inscriptions, the BTCFi Season initiative and the announcement of [Bitcoin Staking(]https://x.com/Starknet/status/1916862601818001551) on Starknet coming soon. In gaming and NFTs, events such as Art/Peace Season 3 and tooling like Cartridge Controller and Dojo Engine highlighted Starknet’s suitability for high-volume, composable onchain experiences. These diverse developments - spanning infrastructure, cross-chain DeFi, and consumer dApps - underscore Starknet’s growing role as a unified, scalable platform bridging Ethereum, Bitcoin, and beyond.

Key Developments: H1 2025

The SN Stack was publicly released in January 2025, providing developers the ability to deploy custom appchains leveraging the same high-performance, cost-efficient zero-knowledge technology underpinning Starknet. Originating from production-grade deployments for projects such as dYdX, Immutable, and Sorare, the stack offers scalability exceeding 1,000 TPS at sub-$0.01 transaction costs, alongside robust security and reliability. Available in three configurations - StarkWare Sequencer, Madara, and Dojo - it supports diverse use cases from high-throughput finance to onchain gaming, all built on Starknet’s proven core infrastructure. Key features include customizable parameters, predictable cost structures, proof aggregation, and the forthcoming Stwo prover enabling privacy-enhanced client-side proving.
StarkWare and the Starknet Foundation, in collaboration with Aztec, have introduced support for verifying Noir ZK proofs on Starknet through the Garaga SDK, developed by Feltroid Prime. This integration allows Noir developers to compile their programs into a Cairo verifier contract without writing any Cairo code, enabling seamless deployment and efficient proof verification on Starknet. By leveraging Starknet’s low fees and high performance, Garaga makes it easier to build scalable, privacy-preserving applications such as ZKML solutions, L2/L3 appchains, and other ZK-enabled dApps.
Starknet v0.13.5, now live on mainnet, delivers major cost and developer experience improvements while laying groundwork for future scalability. Building on prior stateless compression, the upgrade introduces stateful compression to optimize storage key encoding across transactions, reducing redundancy and cutting Ethereum blob costs - keeping Starknet transactions cost-efficient even amid rising L1 data prices. It also debuts L2 gas, separating L2 execution, L1 messaging, and blob submission costs to enable a predictable, scalable fee market planned for v0.14.0. Developer-focused enhancements include smart contract error handling for more resilient dApps and a Wallet-Dapp API standard to streamline integrations.
On April 4, 2025, the Starknet Foundation launched a grants program to support payment applications, offering monthly STRK grants to eligible builders to drive user acquisition and adoption of payment-focused features. The initiative aims to foster a thriving onchain payments ecosystem where Starknet wallets, fintech apps, and payment protocols are used in everyday transactions, supported by strategic partnerships with stablecoin issuers, payment processors, and DeFi infrastructure.

Ecosystem

DeFi

Braavos has launched native Bitcoin Lightning Network payments on Starknet, enabling users to pay any Lightning-enabled merchant instantly with STRK - no BTC holdings, separate Lightning wallet, or liquidity management required. Using the non-custodial Atomiq bridge, STRK is converted to BTC in real time, completing Lightning payments with minimal fees and no setup friction. This integration gives STRK direct utility in the Bitcoin economy while making Bitcoin payments more accessible and seamless, reinforcing Starknet’s role as the execution layer unifying Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Xverse launched Starknet ↔ Bitcoin swaps on its Cross-Chain Swap platform, enabling users to seamlessly exchange BTC and STRK directly from their Xverse wallet. By visiting the swap portal, connecting their wallet, selecting Starknet ↔ Bitcoin, and confirming the amount, users can complete secure cross-chain swaps with assets delivered directly to their wallets.
AFK integrated direct $STRK tipping on Nostr, enabling users to send Lightning-compatible tips from Starknet without intermediaries. Built in just two days using the Atomiq Labs SDK, the feature lets users click a gift icon on Nostr posts, enter a Lightning invoice or LNURL, and pay seamlessly in STRK.
Atomiq launched trustless BTC-to-wBTC swaps on Starknet, integrating first with the Braavos wallet to bring native Bitcoin support and one-click BTC yield to Starknet users. Atomiq uses an onchain escrow system and a Bitcoin light client to verify transactions directly with Bitcoin’s PoW security - eliminating reliance on external validators and enabling zero-slippage, low-risk swaps. This integration streamlines Bitcoin’s entry into Starknet DeFi, replacing multi-step, high-trust bridging processes with a single, self-custodial flow.
Garden Finance launched on Starknet, offering a fast, low-fee, and minimally trusted bridge for BTC-native liquidity into the Starknet ecosystem. The integration enables Bitcoin holders to easily move assets to Starknet - via wallets like Argent or direct swaps on Garden - while giving developers and DeFi protocols access to BTC liquidity for new app flows. Garden’s real-time routing system optimizes costs and execution, supporting single-click swaps of BTC, USDC, WBTC, cbBTC, and more from networks including Bitcoin, Base, Arbitrum, Ethereum, Berachain, and Hyperliquid to Starknet.
Starknet announced a partnership with Lombard Protocol to integrate LBTC, a liquid-staked Bitcoin asset built on Babylon, into the Starknet ecosystem. LBTC is fully backed 1:1 by native BTC staked via Lombard, allowing holders to deploy their Bitcoin across DeFi for lending, borrowing, trading, and liquidity provisioning. The integration will enable users to stake BTC for LBTC and bridge it to and from Starknet, giving institutions scalable access to deploy Bitcoin capital and providing retail users and developers with new liquidity, yield strategies, and use cases.
StarkWare unveiled Broly, a proof-of-concept enabling users to create Bitcoin inscriptions directly from a Starknet wallet without holding BTC or interacting with the Bitcoin network, in a trust-minimized way. Broly operates an inscription request order book on Starknet, with inscription services fulfilled off-chain and verified onchain using smart contracts. It leverages two key open-source components: Utu Relay, a Cairo-based smart contract for verifying Bitcoin transactions and chain data via Merkle proofs and optimistic disputes, and Raito, a Bitcoin consensus light client in Cairo that validates block headers and UTXO states provably on Starknet. These tools open use cases beyond inscriptions, such as provable Bitcoin badges, solvency proofs, and decentralized meta-protocol indexing.

NFTs & Gaming

Art/Peace Season 3, held February 21-25, 2025, brought several thousand Starknet community members together for four days of collaborative pixel art creation, generating a record-breaking 2.2 million transactions and 11 million pixels placed at an average gas cost of just $0.0018. The event featured seamless onboarding via Cartridge Controller, gasless and signless transactions, stencil-based collaboration, voting, automation, and AI-assisted pixel placement through the Starknet Agent Kit. Designed as a Web3-native yet Web2-like experience, Art/Peace demonstrated Starknet’s suitability for high-volume consumer dApps. Top prizes went to Starknet Brother (1st, 6000 STRK), Ponziland and Jokers of Neon (2nd, 4500 STRK), and WolfPack (3rd, 2500 STRK), with additional awards for standout artworks and community contributions.
Starknet showcased Cartridge Controller, a smart authentication system designed to make onchain gaming as seamless as traditional gaming by removing wallet pop-ups, gas fees, and seed phrase management. Built on account abstraction and session keys, it enables walletless logins via familiar Web2 methods (Google, Discord, etc.), automatic transaction signing for pre-approved actions, gasless gameplay, and secure account recovery. Developers can integrate Cartridge Controller into Web3 games using its SDK, authorizing specific actions for a set duration to maintain security while ensuring uninterrupted play. Real-world use cases include NFT-based games, P2E platforms, and onchain strategy titles - allowing minting, trading, staking, and in-game moves without transaction friction.
Starknet spotlighted the Dojo Engine, an open-source, community-driven framework for building fully onchain games with provable logic, composable worlds, and true asset ownership. Onchain games differ from traditional titles by storing both state and logic onchain, enabling transparent rules, trustless asset transfers, and new monetization models such as atomic payouts, decentralized revenue sharing, and permissionless modding. Dojo streamlines development by standardizing architecture, integrating ORM-like state management via a World contract, and bundling tools like Sozo (project management), Katana (local devnet), Torii (indexer), and Origami (client patterns).
Blob Arena, a fully onchain turn-based battler built on Starknet and powered by Cartridge, launched on June 7 at the NFL Hall of Fame Village during the Armored MMA event. Players can enter tournaments, customize blob fighters, and compete in classic or AMMA mode with $50K in seasonal prizes. The game is accessible via Discord or hardware passkey logins.
Focus Tree, the top student productivity app with over 1 million downloads and 100 million TikTok views, has launched its new self-custodial wallet powered by Starknet. The wallet enables gasless transactions via AVNU Paymaster and introduces secure seedless recovery using MPC architecture. Now live, wallets are automatically deployed with app usage and integrate directly with Ready Wallet (formerly Argent X) official account contracts.

Enterprise & RWAs

AltLayer, a leading Rollups-as-a-Service (RaaS) provider with expertise in restaking, became the first external partner to support deployment of custom chains using the SN Stack. This collaboration allows builders to leverage AltLayer’s Rollup launchpad to deploy SN Stack-powered chains quickly, with service-level agreements guaranteeing mainnet readiness within minutes. By integrating the same battle-tested ZK technology that powers Starknet, capable of over 800 TPS, sub-$0.001 fees, and 2-second transactions. AltLayer enables projects to focus on core business needs while outsourcing technical complexities.
Starknet has announced plans to become the first Layer 2 to unify Bitcoin and Ethereum, extending its battle-tested STARK proof technology to scale Bitcoin while preserving its decentralization and security principles. By acting as Bitcoin’s execution layer, Starknet aims to increase throughput from ~13 TPS to thousands, enable complex DeFi and smart contract applications natively on Bitcoin, and serve up to 1 billion users. Preparations include integrating the Xverse wallet, launching BTCFi Season to incentivize Bitcoin DeFi participation, and establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The roadmap explores bridging via multisig federations, BitVM, and ultimately a fully trustless native bridge enabled by the proposed OP_CAT soft fork, which would allow covenants and direct settlement on Bitcoin. In parallel, Starknet continues research on Bitcoin scaling, partnerships with key ecosystem players, and UX enhancements such as instant, low-cost transactions and native account abstraction.
Starknet introduced Asset Runes, a new class of Bitcoin-native assets starting with USDC that allow Bitcoin holders to gain diversified exposure without leaving the Bitcoin network. Asset Runes are backed 1:1 by corresponding assets locked on Starknet and can be traded trustlessly on Bitcoin mainnet, with transfers facilitated by the Bitcoin↔Starknet Runes Bridge, secured by a federation of Bitcoin OGs. Once bridged to Starknet, users can redeem Runes for the underlying asset via smart contracts without intermediaries. Future support will expand to USDT, ETH, SOL, STRK, and more, with upcoming StarkGate UI updates enabling direct Bitcoin redemptions.

Ecosystem Growth

The Starknet Winter Hackathon, held online over two weeks, brought together more than 820 participants from 78 countries, resulting in 213 projects, half of which were successfully submitted. Designed to explore Starknet’s potential and foster innovation, the event featured workshops, office hours, and five competition tracks including AI, Community, DeFi, Gaming, and Telegram. Each with three winning projects, alongside special sponsored challenges. Standouts included Lumos for AI-powered DeFi liquidity optimization, Overtrade for permissionless OTC trading, and TeleSwap, which appeared in both AI and Telegram tracks for its AI-driven DeFi actions via a Telegram Mini dApp. The hackathon served as a launchpad for participants to refine their ideas, with the next step being Starknet’s ETHDenver Hacker House - an accelerator offering tools, mentorship, and networking to advance projects toward real-world deployment.
The Starknet Foundation’s Re{ignite} hackathon drew 851 participants and saw 111 project submissions over two weeks of online competition. Builders submitted over 330 Cairo files and wrote more than 37,000 lines of Cairo code. In addition to $33,000 STRK in prizes, participants competed for access to $25,000 in follow-on funding and a chance to join the Starknet Startup House in Cannes ahead of EthCC. Designed to help turn MVPs into real ventures, the Startup House offers mentorship, partnerships, and funding pathways for top-performing Starknet projects.
In the first half of 2025, the Starknet Foundation, together with its community partners, organized 15 Developer Basecamps across Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The goal of the basecamps is to onboard developers into the Starknet ecosystem and prepare them to participate in builder events, such as the hackathons and Startup Houses. These programs have brought in more than 1,300 participants, with nearly 400 students successfully graduating.
Starknet Foundation introduced the Founder Basecamp in April 2025 to guide founders from idea validation to an investor-ready pitch while connecting them with top builders to bring their vision into reality. Nearly 500 students signed up for the program, with 42% of the attendees participating in the upcoming online hackathon with their project ideas.

Onchain Data

Daily Transactions

In H1 2025, Starknet’s daily successful transaction count exhibited volatility characteristic of emerging blockchain networks. Activity remained relatively steady in the 15,000-30,000 range through January and February before surging in March, when the network recorded multiple daily peaks exceeding 1 million transactions, including the half-year high of over 1.3 million. Following this peak, transaction volume entered a pronounced uptrend, fluctuating between 200,000 and 1 million transactions per day throughout April and May. By June, the trend had consolidated, stabilizing at a significantly higher baseline of 50,000-100,000 daily transactions - well above the levels observed at the start of the year.

Daily Active Addresses

Starknet’s active addresses metric exceeded expectations in H1 2025, reflecting strong user growth amid a volatile market. Early in the year, daily active addresses held steady in the 5,000-10,000 range, occasionally spiking above 20,000. Beginning in mid-April, activity surged sharply, establishing a sustained upward trend that quickly stabilized in the 50,000-70,000 range. This elevated baseline persisted through the end of H1, underscoring Starknet’s accelerating adoption and expanding presence in the blockchain ecosystem.

Top Entities by Users and Transactions

In H1 2025, Starknet strengthened its position as one of the most prominent emerging Ethereum Layer 2 solutions in the industry. User activity data shows that nearly 50% of unique users during the period engaged in Ethereum trading or transfers, underscoring Starknet’s role as a core L2 environment. Native Starknet transactions ranked second, capturing over 26.5% of the user share. The remainder of the Top 5 was dominated by DeFi activity, Ekubo - one of Starknet’s largest decentralized exchanges - and Nostra, a comprehensive DeFi super-app offering lending, borrowing, pooling, and token swaps, which accounted for more than 5% of total users.

On the transactions front, DeFi led decisively. AVNU, a trading and staking hub, commanded over 50% of the more than 22 million transactions recorded during the period. RemusDEX followed with an 18% share, trailed by native Starknet transactions, while USDC and Pragma - a decentralized oracle - rounded out the Top 5, with the latter capturing 7.5% of total transaction volume.

Closing Thoughts

Starknet’s performance in H1 2025 demonstrates both its technical maturity and its accelerating ecosystem adoption. Core infrastructure advancements, most notably the release of the SN Stack, the v0.13.5 upgrade, and the Garaga SDK have solidified Starknet’s position as a high-throughput, low-cost execution layer capable of supporting diverse use cases across finance, gaming, and enterprise. These developments, combined with strategic initiatives such as AltLayer’s RaaS integration and payment-focused grants, reinforce Starknet’s role as a modular, developer-friendly environment built for scale. The network’s transaction and active address growth highlight increasing user confidence and a strong foundation for sustained expansion.

At the application layer, Starknet’s momentum spans multiple verticals. DeFi activity has surged, with leading protocols like AVNU, RemusDEX, and Ekubo driving the majority of transaction volume. Starknet has cemented itself as a leader in BTCFi, with several initiatives on the horizon, ranging from Garden’s BTC liquidity bridge, to the announcement of Lombard’s LBTC 1:1 BTC backed liquid staking token. All of these movements strengthen Starknet’s role in unifying Ethereum and Bitcoin liquidity. In parallel, consumer-facing innovations such as Asset Runes, Broly inscriptions, and gaming frameworks like Dojo and Cartridge Controller showcase Starknet’s capacity to power both high-volume and highly composable onchain experiences. This breadth of development signals that Starknet is not only scaling Ethereum, but also positioning itself as a universal execution layer for the next generation of multi-chain applications.