StarkNet is a Layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum that uses Zero-Knowledge proofs to bundle many transactions into a single proof, reducing the load on the Ethereum blockchain.

It is one of the most promising layer-2 solutions with great potential to become the most dominant rollup on top of Ethereum. The main reason for that is this is that its underlying technology, STARK proofs, has already been battle tested and used for trading nearly $1B, processing over 380M transactions, and minting 100M NFTs via the StarkEx solution.

Compare this with other layer-2 solutions, and you will find a huge gap in potential and proven ability. I predict that in the next quarter, StrakNet will achieve 10 times the transaction throughput of the base layer Ethereum, marking it as the shining star on the Ethereum scaling horizon.

The StarkNet token has already been deployed, the foundation and initial governance has been established and the delegates are lining up 🔥. 

This is a HUGE opportunity!!!

Some of us still remember the dYdX airdrop that surpassed $100,000 for the most active users (that’s per user!!). An interesting anecdote is that dYdX runs on StarkEx - the same technology (and team) that powers StarkNet.

It doesn’t get any hotter than this!

So, what should you do??? Follow the steps below and start engaging with the network.

Wallet

Unfortunately, Metamask or other ethereum wallets do not work on StarkNet (since StarkNet is not EVM compatible). So you will have to choose a StarkNet dedicated wallet.

There are two main wallets - Argent and Braavos.

I recommend the Braavos wallet as I find it the most reliable, fast and secure. 

Note that wallets on Starknet are smart contract wallets (implementing what is called account abstraction), which provides some very cool capabilities like bundling multiple contract calls into one transaction (for example, doing Approve and Swap in an AMM), allow singing using Apple Secure Enclave and Face ID and much more.

This is not the focus of this guide, but if you are interested - here is a nice short explanation about account abstraction and a cool explanation on Hardware Signer (you will probably have to use Google translate).

Braavos has applications for Android and iOS, but here I will focus on the Braavos Chrome extension (sometimes referred to as the Braavos Chrome plugin).

First, download the Braavos extension from the Chrome Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/braavos-wallet/jnlgamecbpmbajjfhmmmlhejkemejdma

Now that you downloaded it, I recommend pinning it to your browser toolbar

Next go through the setup process. You will need to create a new wallet and safely store your mnemonic seed phrase.

Click ‘Get Started’ -> Insert a password to the wallet x 2 -> click ‘Create Wallet’ -> Copy your recovery seed phrase and save it in a safe place -> click ‘Done’.

Create an account on mainnet by clicking on ‘StarkNet Mainnet Alpha’. Then confirm the Disclaimer by clicking ‘Continue’ (and remember that everything is still in alpha so treat it with caution) and voilà you have an address.

Before we can do anything on StarkNet, we have to deposit funds to our account and deploy/setup our account smart contract on-chain (remember, Braavos is a smart wallet).

Clicking on the Deposit button, we will get several options including deposit money from credit card or bank transfer (Banxa and Ramp), bridge form other chain (Orbiter) or from a centralized exchange (LayerSwap)

I will choose the StarkGate bridge for this tutorial and will connect both my Etherum and Braavos wallet.

Once both wallets are connected I can decide how much I want to bridge. I recommend that you will bridge ETH as you will need it to pay for transaction gas on StarkNet.

Once we have some ETH in our account, we can click ‘Setup now’ and deploy our account on chain:

This can take a few minutes. In the meantime, we can check Starkscan - one of StarkNet block explorers for the status.

Once our account is deployed on-chain we can start interacting with the various dApps on StarkNet.

AMMs

There are several AMMs on StarkNet and it is worth interacting with them all.

mySwap has the most liquidity currently, but Jediswap and 10KSwap are good candidates as well.

Simply connect your wallet and Swap and Add Liquidity:

NFTs

There are many interesting NFT projects on StarkNet worth interacting with.

The market places:

Mintsquare and Aspect in which you can mint, buy and sell NFTs. It is worth connecting with your Braavos wallet and interacting with Both.

There is also the cool briq project that allows you to build stuff from virtual bricks and mint them on-chain. Here is a cool step-by-step video if you want to get into the briqs :)  Briq NFT on StarkNet Mainnet - Speeder Unboxing - By Nurstar (Minimal Editing)

Another important StarkNet project is StarkNet ID - starknet.id like ENS on Ethereum is a name service minted on chain. You will be able to use human readable names as your account address and build your identity on StarkNet.

A nice thing to know is that Starknet.id is integrated with your Braavos wallet. Meaning that if you mint your domain name you will be able to see it on your Braavos wallet and use it to send and receive funds.

More DeFi

Nostra is a money market protocol that is currently in alpha. Once you connect your wallet you can deposit funds to earn yield and barrow funds against your deposits.

Another interesting project is Hashstack. 

Hashstack offers undercollateralized loans and although still in testnet, it’s should launch on mainnet in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

The last protocol in our guide is ZKX. 

ZKX is a perpetual futures DEX. Similar to Hashstack it is still not on mainnet, but definitely one of the interesting projects on StarkNet with a strong community approach -  check out Yakuza. The team behind ZKX also developed StarkWay - a universal ERC20 bridge.

Worth keeping an eye closely for when they launch on mainnet.

Summary

Keep your Braavos wallet secure and go get those airdrops :)x