Bitcoin is more than just a financial asset: It’s a movement rooted in individual sovereignty and the separation of money from the state. Over the past 16 years, it has empowered millions of people around the world to reclaim control over their assets, catalyzing a revolution in how we think about money and trust. And yet, most Bitcoin today sits static in wallets and exchanges, constrained by the limitations of the network’s original design: a lack of scalability and an inability to natively support applications beyond simple buying, selling, and transferring.

Starknet is embarking on a journey to lift both of those limitations and unleash Bitcoin’s full potential, all while preserving its core principles. Developed in part by the inventors of STARK proofs, Starknet will become the first Layer 2 to settle on both Bitcoin and Ethereum, unifying the world’s largest blockchains on a single layer. The goal is to serve 1 billion Bitcoin users, introducing improved UX, scale, and liquidity—all without compromising on security or decentralization.

Efforts across the Starknet ecosystem are already underway to prepare the grounds to achieve this goal. Alongside the continued research and advocacy for OP_CAT, the proposed Bitcoin upgrade that would pave the way for natively bridging Starknet to the network, the following announcements were just unveiled:

  • Xverse integration: The leading Bitcoin wallet, Xverse, will integrate with Starknet, enabling the use of Bitcoin assets on Starknet for the first time.
  • BTCFi Season: The Starknet Foundation is introducing BTCFi Season, a program that will introduce a range of opportunities to put your Bitcoin to work through Starknet.
  • Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: StarkWare, the company behind the STARK proof that contributes to the development of Starknet, is a Bitcoin-standard company and now has a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), holding a growing portion of its treasury as BTC.
  • Lightning Network payments: Anyone using the Braavos wallet mobile app can scan a QR code and make instant payments using STRK at any vendor that accepts Lightning Network payments.

Now, let’s dive deeper into the vision for Starknet over Bitcoin.

The Starknet vision for Bitcoin

The challenge

Bitcoin set the bar for the core values that make blockchain transformative: decentralization, trustlessness, and censorship-resistance. The vast majority of Bitcoin, however, isn’t being used for anything beyond buying, selling, and long-term investing (HODLing).

While some investors view Bitcoin as digital gold—a long-term hedge against inflation and economic instability, rather than as an asset to actively trade or leverage—there is a demand for utilizing Bitcoin for purposes beyond that. Think, for example, of using Bitcoin as collateral to buy assets outside the digital domain or to earn the way you do with many other assets. Interviews and research conducted by StarkWare—the company that initially developed the zero-knowledge (ZK) technology that powers Starknet—identified three main barriers to doing so:

  • Limited Bitcoin functionality: The Bitcoin network doesn’t natively support complex applications, restricting it primarily to simple transactions and holding (HODLing).
  • Security & centralization risks: Applications that enable DeFi actions outside of Bitcoin often involve custodial or third-party platforms that introduce risk (e.g. the Celsius, BlockFi, and FTX collapses).
  • Slow, costly transactions: Bitcoin’s block times and fees can deter everyday transactions or more sophisticated onchain use cases.

      Starknet will make these challenges obsolete.

      The Starknet solution

      As a Layer 2 on top of Bitcoin, Starknet will become Bitcoin’s execution layer, with the goal of trustlessly scaling Bitcoin from 13 transactions per second (TPS) to thousands. Because Starknet will enable native expressiveness on Bitcoin at scale for the first time, it will open the floodgates to more complex applications that were previously not supported on Bitcoin.

      With its battle-tested technology, Starknet will bring Bitcoin:

      • Layer 2 scaling: Starknet scales blockchain by executing many transactions offchain and bundling them into a single STARK proof that attests to their validity on L1.
      • STARK proofs: These proofs are quantum-resistant and require no trusted setup, ensuring trustlessness and high security for all Bitcoin-centric activities on Starknet.
      • Instant & cheap transactions: Starknet transactions finalize in seconds and cost fractions of a cent, addressing Bitcoin’s scalability bottleneck.
      • Expressiveness: Developers will be able to build a wide variety of DeFi and other complex applications on Bitcoin through Starknet’s smart contract functionality. Applications such as staking, borrowing and lending, leveraged trading, and yield farming will become natively possible on Bitcoin via Starknet.

            With these advantages and more, Starknet is fully equipped to scale Bitcoin with integrity while expanding its utility.

            Long-term impact

            By scaling Bitcoin and enabling more sophisticated applications on the Bitcoin blockchain in a trustless environment, Starknet will unleash the true potential of the world’s original blockchain. This will result in:

            • Global reach: The goal is for Starknet to serve a billion Bitcoin users, bringing mainstream financial-grade functionality to the Bitcoin network.
            • Security & decentralization: Starknet enables Bitcoiners to do more with their Bitcoin on Starknet without compromising on security, as Starknet progresses toward its own decentralized operation.
            • Unified blockchain ecosystem: With Bitcoin and Ethereum consolidated on Starknet’s execution layer, the broader blockchain community can enjoy faster, cheaper, and more secure onchain interactions.

                Why Starknet?

                After years of operating on Ethereum, Starknet is the cheapest Layer 2 with Ethereum data availability (DA) and near-instant transaction confirmation, powered by the most advanced ZK tech stack in the blockchain industry. With the following advantages and more, Starknet is fully equipped to bring massive scale to Bitcoin while preserving its core principles:

                • Proven track record: The technology behind Starknet has already processed millions of transactions on Ethereum, with cumulative trading of +1.3 trillion USD.
                • Built by the original creators of STARKs: The STARK proofs used on Starknet were developed by the original inventors of the technology itself.
                • Enhanced user experience: Native account abstraction means more familiar login methods (fingerprint, face ID), and other features that simplify crypto usage.

                Breakthrough research on Bitcoin scaling

                The StarkWare team that originally pioneered the technology behind Starknet has invested time and resources into Bitcoin research to promote Bitcoin scaling, bolstered by its OP_CAT research fund. These efforts have already yielded notable achievements.

                Collider-script, for example, introduced a method for enforcing covenants on Bitcoin outputs without requiring any changes to Bitcoin. Covenants are one of the primary components necessary for bringing smart contracts-and therefore expressiveness-to Bitcoin. This was followed by the demonstration of a demo bridge covenant on Bitcoin, which aims to be the foundation of a production-grade bridge from Bitcoin to Starknet.

                In an open-source effort, led by Weikeng Chen and Pinghzou Yuan, StarkWare has already verified the first-ever ZK proof on Bitcoin’s Signet test network using its STARK verifier.

                Why now?

                While Starknet started by settling on the Ethereum blockchain, its roots in Bitcoin are deep—pre-Ethereum deep. It all started when Professor Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO and Co-Founder of StarkWare, spoke at the Bitcoin Conference in San Jose back in 2013. It was then that he first introduced the idea of using ZK proofs (specifically, the tech later called zk-STARK) to scale Bitcoin.

                Since then, Starknet emerged to bring massive scalability to Ethereum with STARK proofs as its core security technology. Now, as Bitcoin sees record global interest and demand, the time has come for Starknet to step up to its next challenge.

                How will this be achieved?

                The Starknet experience on Bitcoin now

                Bitcoin users deserve to be able to utilize their Bitcoin with confidence, and the highest level of security and decentralization. Starknet stakeholders have been and will continue to educate about and advocate for OP_CAT, a proposed Bitcoin upgrade that would, as StarkWare has identified, open the door to natively settling Starknet on Bitcoin. Even before the OP_CAT upgrade, however, efforts will be made to enable using Bitcoin on Starknet with the following kinds of bridges:

                Federated model (multisig)

                In the federated model of bridging Starknet to Bitcoin, a group of co-signers collectively safeguards the Bitcoin tokens locked and minted on Starknet through a multisig. The federation is accountable for minting an identical amount of wrapped Bitcoin on Starknet as the amount being bridged. The multisig bridge enables lower fees and elevated UX, but requires that the majority of the signers are honest participants, limiting network liveness.

                BitVM

                BitVM is the most secure way to bridge Bitcoin without OP_CAT. Instead of working with a multisig, BitVM requires that only one of the operators is honest. It enables this by enforcing the logic with a dispute-resolution mechanism powered by cryptographic proofs.

                OP_CAT readiness

                The OP_CAT soft fork, if it passes, will open the door to covenants and native L2 scaling and expressiveness on Bitcoin, empowering the world’s first blockchain to live up to its potential to disrupt traditional financial systems.

                Covenants enable programmable spending rules and, therefore, native smart contracts. Together with STARK proofs, they make it possible to build a fully trustless, native bridge from Bitcoin to Starknet. This native bridge will function without any additional operators or trust assumptions, providing Bitcoin users with the maximal level of security, decentralization, and self-custody.

                A more technical, deeper dive into how Starknet will settle on Bitcoin will be shared in the coming days.

                Next steps

                In the next few months, several products and partnerships will pave the way for the best possible L2 experience for Bitcoiners on Starknet. These include offerings and incentives that users will be able to enjoy, as well as announcements on major milestones in the research being conducted:

                • Partnerships: Starknet stakeholders are forming alliances with key Bitcoin ecosystem players, including wallet providers and researchers.
                • New products & offerings: Multiple new products and retail offerings will be introduced in the coming months to encourage the adoption of Starknet for Bitcoin.
                • BTCFi Season: The Starknet Foundation is introducing BTCFi Season, a program designed to open up a range of opportunities to all Bitcoin users. This program will incentivize Bitcoin holders to participate in DeFi on Starknet, allowing users to put their Bitcoin to work in a wide variety of ways. Sign up with your email to be among the first to know when the program goes live.
                • Research & Education: Ongoing efforts focus on advocating for Bitcoin upgrades like OP_CAT and exploring how STARK proofs can scale Bitcoin’s functionality. StarkWare launched the OP_CAT Research Fund for this purpose.

                    What should you do now?

                    Starknet stakeholders are already moving quickly to make Starknet the first Layer 2 to unify Bitcoin and Ethereum without compromising their integrity. What should you do in the meantime?

                    Start by setting up a Starknet wallet and check out the Bitcoin DeFi opportunities on BTCFi Season. Browse Starknet’s apps—exactly the kinds of apps that Starknet will make possible on Bitcoin. If you’re a builder who is excited about Starknet as the unifying execution layer for Bitcoin and Ethereum and would like to build the next killer app, check out the Starknet docs to get started.

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