Introduction:

Here's a recap of the insightful dialogue from Klein Labs' recent space event on the topic "Delving into StarkNet: Unveiling Its Evolution and Prospects", held on Nov. 9th 1:00 p.m. UTC.

In a dynamic online discussion featuring Octo Corp, VORTEX, Agilely, the discussion focused on the potential of StarkNet, a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, and its impact on various blockchain projects.

StarkNet's ability to scale transaction throughput efficiently, particularly for applications like gaming, was highlighted as a key attraction. It was noted that StarkNet's Cairo virtual machine, which is incompatible with standard Ethereum smart contracts, poses challenges for developers. Argent, an active contributor to the StarkNet ecosystem, was singled out for its role in driving user adoption through NFT campaigns.

Recap:

1.Guest Self-Introduction and Project Overview

Vortex: a decentralized derivatives exchange that currently supports spot and futures trading. They are working on options trading which will launch in about a month.

Octocorp: an entertainment NFT project focused on action and comedy. They have a comic book narrative around two characters, Magnus and Dr. Sheepcode, who run Octocorp with the goal of taking over the world by releasing NFTs. Their current NFT project is a 4-part "Creator Machine" that users can mint. They plan to release more character NFTs in the future.

Agilely: a decentralized stablecoin protocol. Users can deposit tokens as collateral to mint their stablecoin USDA. They plan to launch on Ethereum mainnet this month. They want to expand to layer 2 solutions which is why they joined today's discussion.

2.Projects Q&A Session

• Host: How did you learn about starknet? What features of StarkNet attracted you?

Octocorp: first learned about StarkNet through Argent's NFT campaign earlier this year. He was attracted by Argent's activity as the leading contributor driving adoption on StarkNet currently. Velvet sees significant potential in StarkNet's ability to scale transaction throughput for applications like gaming that require efficient processing.

Agilely: learned about StarkNet as a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum using zero-knowledge rollups. He highlighted StarkNet's different Cairo virtual machine that is incompatible with standard Ethereum smart contracts deployed in Solidity. This difference presents challenges for developers looking to migrate applications.

• Host: What's your impressive projects on StarkNet?

Octocorp: highlighted Argent as the most impressive project on StarkNet currently. Their activity in driving user adoption through campaigns like NFT distributions has attracted significant interest. He sees them as the most active contributor to the StarkNet ecosystem.Argent was the only project called out by name as an impressive leader on StarkNet. Their effective community-building and promotion efforts have gained attention even with StarkNet development itself still in early stages.While StarkNet technology shows promise for scalability and performance, ecosystem growth is still nascent. Few dapps have launched to showcase the network capabilities or drive significant usage so far.

The progress Argent has made by engaging users early on stands out in the nascent StarkNet ecosystem.Broader integration of StarkNet with more chains and dapps to boost usage of its zk-rollup capabilities could further support adoption. For now Argent's user-focused approach has proven impressive before most complex protocol launches occur. Their community-driven model builds confidence during this bootstrap period as the network look towards broader decentralized growth.

• Host: How do you view the full chain games and their development on StarkNet?

Vortex: understanded that he was not a gamer myself, but I'm aware that the gaming industry has now surpassed both the music and movie industries in terms of global revenue. At the same time, the traditional gaming sector has been facing some issues, and even as a non-gamer, he can sense a high level of frustration there. He believe that layer two solutions like "StarkNet" might offer a way to resolve these issues. As far as he know, StarkNet is striving to enhance on-chain gaming by efficiently processing transactions, making blockchain gaming more scalable for the industry. Ultimately, he think the way to appeal to the gaming community is not just by emphasizing that blockchain gaming allows you to own everything and even make money from it, but rather by providing a better alternative to the traditional gaming studio logic.

• Host: With mainstream Layer 2 solutions like Optimism, zkSync, StarkNet, and Polygon launching stack solutions and opening up core components to accelerate the development of RaaS in order to gain a market advantage, what strategies should less popular or emerging L2s adopt to ensure their competitiveness and market share?

Agilely: As emerging L2 projects, like ours, we're leveraging L2 technologies to gain a competitive edge. These L2 solutions can create a network by offering customized solutions for specific decentralized applications or by introducing innovative consensus mechanisms. In the long term, it's always beneficial for different layer tools and products to emerge, so that the best ones, which meet market needs, remain.In the short term, technically speaking, the differences in approaches like zero-knowledge proofs or other L2 solutions are usually not significant until problems arise. When trouble hits, the solution that survives will obviously be the best one for L2s, but before that, these differences often don't matter much.

• Host: What are your expectations for the future of L2? Besides StarkNet, which other L2 ecosystems do you find promising?

Octocorp: I'm not sure about layer threes, but I believe they will emerge. When I think about it, there are many different applications, functionalities, and features being developed, as Vertex mentioned. I see a lot of potential there. One of the main contradictions, though, is that we're discussing all these specific terms and the terminology, to be honest, is anything but simple; it's extremely complex. You really have to delve deeply into the subject, and within the blockchain space, there are not just one, but thousands of complexities to navigate.

Agilely: I see a kind of potential in mental, influenced by big exchanges like Bit. It's significant because Bit has substantial financial backing, and I believe they already support mental. In fact, one of the incubators for mental is Bit, which holds a lot of money, including Ethereum. They've transferred the Bit token to mental. So, I think in the next three months, we'll likely see a surge of projects or developments within mental.

3. Summary

Regarding the full chain games development on StarkNet, it was observed that blockchain gaming, enhanced by StarkNet's transaction processing capabilities, could potentially address issues in the traditional gaming sector. As for the future of L2 solutions, it was suggested that emerging L2 projects should focus on offering customized solutions or introducing innovative consensus mechanisms. The discussion also touched on the complexity of blockchain terminology and the potential of other L2 ecosystems, with specific mention of the 'mental' network, supported by significant financial backing from major exchanges.

About Klein Labs

Klein Labs is a pioneering community-oriented Web3 accelerator and research-driven venture capital firm. It was founded by a passionate team of engineers, data specialists, crypto enthusiasts, and investors hailing from prestigious institutions like Stanford University, CMU, Cornell University, Google, and Microsoft. We boast a strong culture of collaboration, an ardor for crypto-economics, and an optimistic view of the future of the internet and AI.

Website | Twitter | Mirror | Dev Channel