StarkWare, the development firm behind L2 network Starknet, intends to launch staking within its ecosystem by Q4 2024. At the Ethereum Community Conference [EthCC], Eli Ben-Sasson, the CEO of StarkWare unveiled that he has submitted a Starknet Improvement Proposal [SNIP] to the community.
According to the proposal, users can choose if they would like to become a staker, provided they hold the minimum staking amount or have delegated it to an existing staker. Participation rewards are expected to be proportional to the amount of STRK tokens staked.
Also, it should be noted that the minting curve proposal will be adhered to when it comes to rewards, i.e. the more tokens staked, the higher the total minting rate. However, this also implies that the staking reward as a percentage of the staked amount will decrease.
The minting curve mechanism will help strike a balance by keeping inflation under control and foster participation. This, in turn, will make sure that enough STRK tokens are available for other network activities.
Furthermore, stakers will have to lock their tokens for 21 days before the withdrawal doors open.
If the community green-flags the proposal, a testnet for staking on Starknet will be rolled out before the mainnet launch.
The staking rollout will happen in stages. In the first stage, stakers will be required to connect to Starknet, interact with staking contracts, and adhere to the protocol’s staking rules. They will also be required to run full nodes to prepare for validation.
Technical and economic parameters will be taken into account before other updates. Going forward, stakers will also have to provide real-time certifications and perform proving and sequencing activities to secure the network.
Eventually, stakers and active contributors will be bestowed with the power to vote.
In a released statement, Ben-Sasson affirmed,
“As Starknet continues its decentralized journey, StarkWare is excited to propose the first stage of staking. This is an important step in building the staking community and technology, offering new opportunities for users and developers.”
