Starknet, a ZK-Rollup solution for scaling decentralized applications, announced its 2024 roadmap.
The roadmap outlines ambitious plans to increase transaction throughput and reduce transaction fees on the Ethereum Layer 2 network.
One of the most notable updates in the roadmap is the introduction of parallel execution in v0.13.2, which is scheduled for release in the second quarter of this year. This feature will change the way Starknet's sequencer works, a component that organizes and groups multiple off-chain transactions before sending them to the Ethereum blockchain.
Instead of executing each process sequentially as is currently the case, parallelization will allow multiple processes to be executed simultaneously.
Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO of developer StarkWare and board member of the Starknet Foundation, likened parallel execution to a subway station that opens more entrances to overcome congestion:
“Parallel execution is basically a multitasking for rollups, or more specifically for sequencers at layer 2s. Thus, the sequencer will be able to perform many operations simultaneously. “This will remove a bottleneck and allow transactions to flow faster and more efficiently.”
Starknet added support for EIP-4844, also known as proto-danksharding, as part of Ethereum's Dencun update last week. Following this, Argent, one of the leading wallet providers on the network, reported a significant drop in average fees for an exchange on Starknet, with the fee dropping to $0.04 from over $6.80 shortly before the Dencun update.
The roadmap also includes plans for Cairo Native integration into the Starknet sequencer, estimated for v0.13.3 in Q3. This integration, in collaboration with blockchain research firm Nethermind, will allow the sequencer to run directly on standard hardware architecture, which is expected to speed up transaction execution, reduce latency and increase throughput.
Starknet's v0.14.0 release in Q4 aims to further reduce fees on Starknet through three key strategies: introducing will for hybrid data storage, applying “applied reproducibility” to consolidate data storage proofs, and improving Starknet's data traces on Ethereum Investigating data availability compression to minimize.
*This is not investment advice.