The New Era of Bitcoin Powered By Starknet

Starknet is coming to Bitcoin with one of the biggest breakthroughs in Bitcoin scaling: STARK verifiers natively on Bitcoin.

In a recent conversation with Eli Ben-Sasson from StarkWare, we got a closer look at how they’re working to bring STARK verifiers to Bitcoin, something that hasn’t been possible until now. Our discussion was centered around giving the Bitcoin network new capabilities, thanks to the potential reintroduction of OP__CAT, a simple but powerful opcode that will enable advanced computational functions on Bitcoin.

Eli talked us through their exploration of integrating Bitcoin with Ethereum, envisioning a future where Starknet can settle transactions across both chains simultaneously. This could open up a new world of possibilities, allowing users to leverage the strengths of both ecosystems while choosing their preferred data availability layer on a transaction basis.

Eli also touched on some of the broader implications of these developments. From the shifting political landscape around Bitcoin, with discussions about OP__CAT gaining traction, to the challenges of maintaining security and decentralization as the network grows more complex.

We asked Eli about his broader vision of immutability at the base layer of Bitcoin and Ethereum vs. improving better technology. He talked deeply about the challenges ahead, from governance issues to the risk of centralization, as well as his and the entire Starknet community's commitment to building a more open and decentralized future.

Eli emphasized that this is a journey that will take years, if not decades, to fully realize.

This has been one of, if not the biggest breakthroughs in the ongoing Bitcoin scaling space race. We really enjoyed this conversation as it started off quite technical and ended up philosophical.

The Rollup