Amid a market cycle often defined by speculative trends. Starknet has quietly executed a massive fundamental massive pivot. A comprehensive year-end review now confirms that this strategy is yielding results, with critical on-chain metrics—from staking volume to Bitcoin integration—reaching historic highs. The data signals a clear divergence: while price action has been dormant, network utility is expanding at a vertical rate
1. The Staking Explosion: 1.1 Billion STRK Locked
The most striking validation of Starknet’s comeback is the explosive growth in STRK staking since its November 2024 launch. The network has seen staking grow from zero to over 1.1 billion STRK tokens locked; representing over 23% of the circulating supply in just one year.
To put this growth in perspective, Ethereum needed three years to reach the same 23% staking ratio, and four years to hit 30%. At Starknet’s current pace, the network should cross the 30% staking threshold sometime in 2026, achieving in under two years what Ethereum took four.
Why This Matters:
The 11-fold increase in staked STRK (from 110 million to 1.1 billion) signals something far more important than speculative interest it demonstrates genuine long-term conviction from holders. When over a fifth of circulating supply is voluntarily locked to secure the network, it indicates stakeholders are betting on sustained appreciation over short-term flips.
As Starknet announced, “1,000,000,000 STRK now staked ranks among strongest staking bases in crypto”, highlighting that this achievement places the network among the top staking ecosystems globally.
The staking growth becomes even more impressive when examined against market headwinds. All this momentum was achieved at a very low cost, as the inflation brought by staking since launch amounts to only 33 million STRK (less than $4 million), or 0.33% of annual inflation. This demonstrates that the network is achieving decentralization and security efficiently without excessive token dilution.
2. The BTCFi Revolution: Bitcoin Finds a New Home
Driving much of Starknet’s recent growth is a strategic pivot toward becoming a hub for “BTCFi”; Bitcoin DeFi. The numbers here are equally impressive and represent a fundamental expansion of Bitcoin’s utility beyond simple holding.
Bitcoin staking on Starknet grew from zero to over 1,700 BTC staked in only three months. Perhaps even more remarkably, the BTC staked value (approximately $160 million) is currently superior to the STRK staked value ($100 million), indicating that Bitcoin holders are genuinely adopting Starknet as infrastructure rather than it being a niche experiment.
As of November 2025, bridged BTC assets total nearly $130 million, including SolvBTC ($122.4 million), WBTC ($43.3 million), LBTC ($22.4 million), and tBTC ($12.0 million). This represents significant capital migration from Bitcoin holders seeking yield and utility.
The Strategic Vision:
Eli Ben-Sasson, StarkWare’s CEO and Starknet co-founder, has been vocal about the network’s ambition to become Bitcoin’s execution layer. As someone who co-founded both Zcash and StarkWare, Ben-Sasson brings unique credibility to this vision of expanding Bitcoin’s capabilities through zero-knowledge proof technology.
After a year of preparation, Starknet shipped concrete products and partnerships in 2025 that make it a credible home for Bitcoin utility beyond simple hodling. The BTCFi initiative, which launched in September 2025, set aside 100 million STRK in incentives specifically for Bitcoin staking and DeFi, positioning Starknet for sustained growth in Bitcoin-based finance.
Real Use Cases Emerging:
The Bitcoin integration isn’t theoretical; actual products are live and gaining traction:
- Bitcoin Staking: BTC holders can stake Bitcoin on Starknet to help secure the network and earn rewards
- Liquid Staking via Endur: Users can stake BTC, earn yield, receive xyBTC, and then use xyBTC across Starknet DeFi
- Lending Protocols: Vesu allows suppliers of WBTC to earn a base interest rate (2-3% APY) plus STRK incentives, with borrowing USDC against BTC effectively at 0-1% after rewards in October/November 2025
- BTC-Collateralized Stablecoins: Uncap Finance introduced USDU, a stablecoin fully backed by BTC deposits
3. Institutional Validation: The Anchorage Factor
One of the most significant validations of Starknet’s maturation came from institutional infrastructure provider Anchorage Digital. Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered digital asset bank, began supporting Bitcoin staking on Starknet in November 2025.
Earlier in September, Anchorage became the first qualified custodian to offer institutional-grade custody and staking for STRK. This enables institutions to earn rewards and boost network security using regulated infrastructure addressing institutional fears about security and compliance that have historically prevented crypto participation.
By combining regulated custody with trustless staking, Starknet addresses a critical barrier that has kept traditional finance players hesitant about Layer 2 protocols. The infrastructure could bring substantial capital from conventional finance participants who previously avoided crypto due to custody concerns.
4. Stablecoin Growth: The Liquidity Foundation
Supporting the BTCFi and DeFi ecosystem is substantial stablecoin liquidity. Stablecoin TVL has reached all-time highs, with $147+ million in TVL as users bridge assets to trade and borrow against their BTC.
This stablecoin depth is critical for a thriving DeFi ecosystem. Without deep stablecoin liquidity, leverage trading, lending, and complex strategies become impractical. The fact that Starknet has built this liquidity base during a period when it wasn’t dominating headlines speaks to organic adoption driven by utility rather than hype.
5. Technical Performance: The Foundation of Growth
None of this adoption would be possible without the technical improvements Starknet shipped throughout 2024-2025. The network has systematically addressed every major pain point that previously limited its competitiveness:
Speed Improvements:
The V0.13.2 upgrade introduced in late August resulted in under 2-second confirmation time for most transactions, bringing Starknet’s user experience in line with competitors like Base and Optimism.
Starknet achieved 127 sustained TPS throughout a whole day, making it the leading Layer 2 by this metric, ahead of Base (80 TPS) and far surpassing zkSync (62 TPS).
Cost Reductions:
The V0.13.2 upgrade halved the fixed L1 costs and expanded network capacity. Additionally, Starknet supported Ethereum’s EIP-4844 from day one, enabling a 100x reduction in gas fees for its users.
Proving Innovation:
StarkWare’s next-generation Stwo prover shattered the world-proving record with more than 500,000 hashes proved per second on a commodity quad-core CPU. The prover’s throughput proved 940 times higher than Stone (StarkWare’s first-generation prover) and 50 times higher than ethStark.
Stwo reached Starknet mainnet in 2025 and represents a fundamental advance in proving efficiency that will enable even greater scalability and new use cases.
6. Decentralization Progress: Moving Toward Stage 2
Starknet has made concrete progress on decentralization, moving from centralized operations toward credible neutrality:
On September 10, STRK holders participated in Starknet governance for the first time since STRK was distributed to the community, marking the beginning of community-driven decision-making.
In May, Starknet became a Stage 1 Rollup, meaning smart contracts replaced centralized operators, achieving autonomy where “training wheels are off”.
The network introduced decentralized sequencing mechanisms and is working toward decentralized proving through Stwo integration. These aren’t marketing claims they represent verifiable on-chain progress toward the ultimate goal of credible neutrality.
7. Ecosystem Expansion: More Than Just Infrastructure
While infrastructure improvements and staking metrics dominate headlines, Starknet’s ecosystem has expanded dramatically across multiple dimensions:
Developer Growth:
Globally, Starknet ranks 4th in terms of the number of developers within the Ethereum ecosystem in 2024, notably the only non-EVM-compatible network in this ranking.
Starknet is among the top 10 chains with the highest growth in full-time developers, growing by 18% between Q3 2023 and Q3 2024 while ecosystems in the 500-2,000 developer range lost an average of 9%.
Project Explosion:
In 2024, the Starknet ecosystem grew in projects by 168%, going from 72 user-centric projects in November 2023 to 193 projects by November 2024. That represents 121 brand-new dApps and tools for Starknet users.
Gaming has been particularly explosive, growing from 4 to 51 projects in a year, making it the largest category in the 2024 ecosystem mapping. This growth solidifies Starknet’s status as a fertile ground for onchain gaming.
Wallet Integration:
During 2024, 9 different wallets, including notable additions like Keplr and Ledger, decided to integrate with Starknet, expanding from just two native wallets in 2023. This growth reflects Starknet’s appeal and maturity in the eyes of wallet providers.
8. Challenges and Headwinds
Despite impressive growth metrics, Starknet faces several ongoing challenges:
Token Unlock Pressure:
On December 15, Starknet unlocked 127 million STRK tokens (5.07% of circulating supply), part of its monthly vesting schedule. These regular unlocks create structural selling pressure that can suppress price appreciation even as fundamentals improve.
Historical data shows STRK typically drops 5-9% around unlock events, with the December 15 unlock seeing an 8.97% price decline on the day.
Infrastructure Outages:
A 9-hour September 2025 outage during a sequencer upgrade highlighted scaling tradeoffs, though subsequent v0.14.0 improvements brought 6-second blocks and better throughput.
Price Performance:
Despite fundamental improvements, STRK remains down significantly from highs, with the token trading more than 90% below its 2024 all-time high of $2.78. Monthly unlocks and broader market conditions have prevented price from reflecting the on-chain activity surge.
9. What the Data Actually Reveals
The comprehensive picture emerging from Starknet’s 2025 performance isn’t one of a network struggling for relevance—it’s one of systematic execution on a long-term vision:
- Conviction Over Speculation: 23% of supply staked in one year demonstrates holder conviction that goes far beyond speculative trading
- Bitcoin Integration is Real: 1,700+ BTC staked and $130 million in bridged Bitcoin assets represent genuine adoption, not vaporware announcements
- Developer Momentum: 168% project growth and ranking 4th in Ethereum ecosystem developers shows sustained building activity
- Institutional Infrastructure: Anchorage integration brings regulated custody and staking that could unlock traditional finance capital
- Technical Leadership: World-record proving performance and sub-2-second finality place Starknet among technical leader
10. The Verdict: Maturation Over Hype
The data doesn’t lie: Starknet is experiencing a fundamental comeback. While the market wasn’t paying attention, the ecosystem matured from a promising but unproven technology into a Layer 2 with concrete usage, institutional infrastructure, and genuine Bitcoin integration.
The 1.1 billion STRK staked representing 23% of supply locked in just one year stands as the clearest signal of long-term conviction. When combined with 1,700+ BTC staked, 168% project growth, and institutional custody integration, the picture is one of an ecosystem hitting its stride.
For traders and investors, the disconnect between improving fundamentals and suppressed price action (driven by monthly unlocks and broader market conditions) represents either a warning or an opportunity, depending on time horizon and risk tolerance.
Disclaimer: This content is for educational and reference purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Digital asset investments carry high risk. Please evaluate carefully and assume full responsibility for your own decisions.
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