2 months left to wrap up 2026 in the best possible way. Lock in. https://x.com/StarkWareLtd/status/2116181268354277455 Quoted @StarkWareLtd: Shipping season never ends 🟠 1. Starknet as an independent L1? This month, Starknet opened one of the biggest strategic discussions in its history: whether Starknet should become an independent L1, in order to move faster on post-quantum and AI security? - Eli Ben-Sasson, StarkWare’s CEO, publicly raised the idea earlier this month. - Starknet already benefits from STARK proofs and programmable accounts that can adopt new signature schemes, but as an Ethereum L2, part of its security still depends on Ethereum’s own upgrade timeline. - Starknet is targeting full end-to-end post-quantum security by next year, while Ethereum targets the end of 2029. - The community voted in favor of researching the idea. - A joint StarkWare × Starknet Foundation working group has now begun assessing the technical requirements, security trade-offs, economic implications, and consequences for users and builders. - The group will publish its findings in the coming months before any potential next step is brought back to the community. 2. Post-quantum security is getting real Research is increasingly turning into working infrastructure. - StarkWare demonstrated a testnet transaction signed with a NIST-standard ML-DSA key generated and stored directly inside a phone’s secure hardware. - A Pixel 11 generated the complete STARK proof for a real Starknet mainnet transaction in just 51 seconds using 2.41 GiB of RAM. - Put together that means a phone can now sign AND prove quantum-safe Starknet transactions - A developer (0xjuno) demonstrated post-quantum wallet migration on Starknet Sepolia, showing how existing Starknet accounts can transition toward quantum-resistant signature schemes. - The estimated compute cost of creating a quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction through QSB fell from ~$320 to ~$59, an 82% reduction in just a few weeks. - The Falcon Challenge reduced Falcon-512 verification costs by 50.2%, from 48.4M to 24.1M gas. - A fully spec-compliant Falcon-512 account transaction was executed on Starknet mainnet for approximately $0.027, by @tanya25519. 3. Privacy is becoming a native feature across Starknet Shadow Accounts went live this month, introducing a new STRK20 primitive that allows apps to offer a Public → Private switch without publicly linking activity to a user’s main wallet. - Ekubo added private LPing, allowing users to provide liquidity, earn fees, and manage positions privately. - Opus added private collateral deposits, borrowing, and private CASH-USDC LP staking. - Troves added end-to-end privacy across automated vaults and Ekubo strategies. - Endur launched private native unstaking, making its full staking flow private. - SuperVega launched private options trading. - ArcX integrated Starknet privacy, allowing users to trade without publicly linking activity to their main wallet. - Haven launched Starknet accounts as part of its private neobank infrastructure. 4. The ecosystem keeps shipping - The Starknet Foundation launched several new user-facing products this month: (1) Bramble, a new self-custody wallet built specifically around Starknet’s native capabilities - (2) A dedicated BTCFi portal bringing together the different ways users can put their Bitcoin to work across Starknet - (3) The Starknet VIP Program for STRK and strkBTC holders, offering priority support, direct access to the Foundation team, confirmed spots at selected events, and more. - Realms is back and rebuilding around a purpose-built Starknet L3 for games such as Eternum and Blitz, targeting better UX, lower costs, and greater flexibility. - ArcX launched RISE and PAPER point markets alongside its existing Variational market. - ArcX also launched Points Desk, allowing vetted sellers to sell points without posting collateral, and rolled out embedded wallets, allowing users to log in with email, Google, or X and trade directly. - 3 new projects went live on Mainnet: Escape Saylor (game), Slay (NFT + launchpad), STRKWORLD (gaming + GameFi) - 5 projects integrated Starknet & STRK: StonkFun added support for launching tokens paired with STRK - Moonshot integrated STRK - ShapeShift added Starknet cross-chain swaps - Pulsar integrated Starknet deposits, transfers, and card top-ups - Pump.fun added Starknet pairs with STRK-denominated holder rewards. 5. The numbers keep improving - 1.7B STRK are now staked, representing around 23% of the circulating supply - The Starknet Bunker holds approximately $150M in staked assets, including ~1.7B STRK and ~580 BTC - SuperVega generated more than $5M in notional trading volume during its best month so far - Starknet recorded 210 commits in one month, its highest monthly count of the past quarter - starknet.js usage reached an all-time high - Starkzap crossed 10,000 downloads Can’t stop, won’t stop.