Building scalable and secure ZK-app chains can be complex. Karnot offers the solution. Here, at Karnot we strive to be the leading RaaS provider for Madara chains, consistently pushing the envelope to allow our customers to develop scalable, efficient app chains without the burden of managing production-grade infrastructure. Making a significant milestone in our commitment to build for scale is Karnot’s latest partnership.

We are excited to announce that Karnot will be hosting, deploying and managing a testnet for Kakarot over the next few months. This partnership aligns with Karnot's vision of becoming the leading RaaS provider, while simultaneously testing and accelerating Madara's path to mainnet readiness.

Kakarot has carved its niche as a key player in the ZK space, leveraging Cairo's inherent provability to build a verifiable zkEVM. This creates an Ethereum-compatible Layer 2, enabling seamless integration of existing EVM contracts, wallets, and transactions. This approach lowers the barrier to entry for developers and users familiar with the Ethereum ecosystem while also unlocking high scalability powered by STARKs and Cairo.

Kakarot's strategic decision to adopt Cairo for its zkEVM development offers significant advantages over the conventional approach of manually constructing low-level ZK circuits. By abstracting away complex cryptographic operations and circuit optimizations, Cairo, as a high-level language, allows the team to:

• Maintain agility: Building on Cairo streamlines proof generation, allowing Kakarot to stay ahead of the rapidly evolving Ethereum roadmap and potentially secure a significant competitive edge.

• Prioritize user experience: Freed from low-level complexities, the team can focus on enhancing the user experience by introducing features such as native account abstraction, face ID reinforced EOA’s and native multicall within the zkEVM environment.

• Benefit from continuous improvement: Leveraging Cairo, Kakarot automatically inherits performance optimizations and new features from Starkware's ongoing development, ensuring its zkEVM stays at the forefront of advancements in the ZK space.

The upcoming Kakarot testnet, in collaboration with Starkware and Karnot, brings exciting possibilities. Let's dissect its components to see how it works.

1. Kakarot RPC:  Acts as the EVM-compatible gateway, allowing users to interact with the Kakarot’s zkEVM through simple EVM transactions

2. Full Node: Maintains a complete copy of the current state and independently verifies transactions

3. Indexer: Facilitates quick reads of chain state by maintaining indices on parts of the current state

4. Validator: Validates and executes transactions, creates blocks and handles proof and DA submissions. Currently run by Starkware.

5. Karnot Shadow Testnet: A dedicated Madara app chain hosted by Karnot, independently simulates the activity on Starknet’s validator. It executes transactions, generates blocks, and calculates state diffs, enabling a stress test of Madara’s performance in enterprise-grade environments. By benchmarking against industry leaders like Starkware in this testnet, Madara gains valuable insights into its scalability and efficiency, allowing Madara to be further Mainnet-ready.

As Kakarot pushes boundaries, Karnot is proud to continue providing robust and scalable infrastructure solutions. We’re excited to build, deploy and grow from testnet to mainnet, to let Kakarot focus on innovation, not infrastructure.

If you’re building an app chain, Karnot offers unmatched scalability, security and expertise in the ZK app chain space. Reach out to us on Twitter, and get testnet ready in days instead of weeks.