Starknet’s January Recap

Your monthly deep dive into the biggest milestones, upgrades, and ecosystem growth shaping Starknet’s fast-moving
future.

Welcome to the 29th edition of my monthly recap, where I bring you the most important updates and developments from the Starknet ecosystem!

📣 Important news of the month

STRK is becoming more accessible over time


STRK (Starknet’s network token) is now tradable on Solana

That means Solana’s millions of traders can buy STRK directly without leaving their favorite network, and even use it in
DeFi on Solana’s main venues (like Jupiter or Meteora).

And that’s not all: AVNU also launched cross-chain swaps, letting users swap 200+ assets from 10+ networks into STRK on Starknet. Both products are powered by NEAR Intents.

Starknet now integrated into LayerZero

LayerZero, the leading interoperability network, has integrated Starknet

This connects Starknet to LayerZero’s omnichain messaging protocol, meaning builders can now create OFT-powered tokens
on Starknet. This integration is massive. LayerZero represents:

  • $210B+ in transfer volume facilitated
  • Support for 700+ tokens and 150+ chains
  • Powering 70%+ of cross-chain stablecoin activity today

And with LayerZero also come two bridges:

Ethereum Foundation’s Open Intents Framework (EVM) is now also compatible with CairoVM

In 2025, the Ethereum Foundation announced working on the Open Intents Framework to enable “perfect interoperability”
between Ethereum and its L2s, but it was designed for EVM chains only.

Thanks to this Nethermind implementation, cross-chain intent execution now expands to CairoVM and Starknet. In practice, this could let users simply express
what they want (an intent), and solvers handle all cross-chain execution on their behalf.

S-two is now fully open-source and available to all developers (including EVM)

S-two, the fastest prover stack currently available on the market, is now fully open-source and easily integrable for builders to power their own projects, and it’s now published on Crates.io.

If you want full flexibility, S-two Core even lets you define your own constraints and build custom proving systems. And now, S-two proofs can also be verified on EVM.

Ztarknet is real, and it keeps shipping

First: Zoro (the Zcash ZK client) can now prove the entire header chain and generate self-sufficient SPV proofs. That means anyone can verify the full
Zcash header chain in milliseconds, instead of trusting a server.

Second: StarkWare and Weikend reduced S-two Cairo proofs from 1.3MB down to 77KB. This matters because proof size was the main blocker for STARK verification on Zcash. At 77KB, it’s now realistically in the territory of being considered for inclusion.

More decentralization, more throughput, less L1 finality


The Starknet infrastructure roadmap for 2026 is live, with the main goals being:

  • More throughput (2x, then another 2x)
  • Faster L1 finality via S-two proof verification
  • More predictable fees via better blockspace efficiency
  • More decentralization

📢 Starknet Ecosystem Update

Bitwise files a STRK ETF

This news is from December 31 (not January), but it’s important in case you missed it: Bitwise filed for 11 crypto ETFs,
including one for STRK.

If accepted, it would become the first STRK ETF available.

Ekubo removes its biggest bottleneck

Ekubo is finally switching from withdrawal fees to swap fees, aligned with AMM market standards.

This is huge news because, frankly, withdrawal fees were a red flag for LPs: LPs must actively rebalance positions on AMMs, and paying large fees every time was painful. But not anymore.

Ekubo now generates fees via swap fees, where LPs only pay:

  • 20% of the swap fees their LP positions accumulated on Starknet
  • 10% on EVM

Since this implementation, Ekubo revenue is x4 on Starknet.

And speaking of Ekubo: Blockworks launched the most comprehensive Ekubo dashboard, tracking the token and metrics across both EVM and Starknet.

avnu v2 is here

avnu launched its v2, featuring:

  • A new branding (avnu, not AVNU anymore lads)
  • Even better spot execution for traders
  • A fully gasfree UX (no need to pay gas fees on avnu anymore)
  • A new bridge feature powered by NEAR Intents
  • Every product (swap, bridge, DCA, earn, soon limit orders) in a unified view
  • Better DevX

Whether you’re a dev or a trader: just use avnu.

Extended keeps shipping

Extended listed Silver with up to x10 leverage, letting users trade it fully onchain on Starknet.
Extended now offers 6 TradFi assets:

  • Gold
  • Silver
  • S&P 500
  • Nasdaq 100
  • EUR/USD
  • Oil

And more are coming soon.

Extended isn’t just strong for asset selection; it’s also strong on liquidity efficiency through Extended Vault Shares (XVS).

In January, Extended increased the contribution of XVS to 90% for both Trading Equity and Available Balance. Meaning a $100,000 vault deposit now contributes $90,000 to Trading
Equity and Available Balance.

Uncap keeps scaling

Uncap (the protocol behind USDU) now supports:

So you can mint USDU against those two assets, as well as wBTC.

They also integrated avnu, so users can now receive USDC (instead of USDU) when borrowing against Bitcoin. And probably the biggest news:
they launched a WBTC Yield vault on Ethereum, allowing Ethereum users to generate yield on Starknet directly from Ethereum.

Vesu keeps expanding

Vesu launched a three-mode UI to improve UX so users can focus on what they want:

  • BTCFi view (only BTC-powered markets)
  • Lite mode (simple view)
  • Pro mode (everything)

They also saw two curators launch a new pool + a new vault on the platform:

  • Noon tBTC Yield vault: ~10% BTC yield by depositing tBTC, borrowing USDC at 50% LTV, deploying into sUSN, and looping at 80% LTV
  • Clearstar Labs new pool: allowing users to borrow USDC against sUSN and loop the position to increase stablecoin yield

Two projects successfully raised funds

  1. Privily, a privacy neobank powered by the Starknet Stack as an L3, raised a pre-seed round led by XVentures and Proof of
    Talk
  2. Shift Protocol, building cross-chain strategies between perp DEXs, also raised a pre-seed

Cartridge acquired an onchain gaming OG

Cartridge acquired Playmint (the minds behind The Crypt and Downstream).

Loot Survivor contests

It’s Loot Survivor szn on Starknet, and StarkWare launched multiple programs to push it. Notably still live:

💅Alpha Zone 

This month, 2 new projects launched on Starknet Mainnet:

  • Privacy Pool: deposit ETH, USDC, or STRK, withdraw to a fresh address, and use any app on Starknet privately without revealing
    your onchain history or public identity.
  • Trip.com: book holidays in crypto, now offering STRK cashback.

I also spotted 2 new projects currently building on Starknet:

  • Midato Pay: seamless crypto payments with instant fiat settlement for merchants.
  • Abyss: a fully onchain game live on Testnet.

📰 Some of the best content of the month