StarkWare is a blockchain technology company that focuses on developing and deploying zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) systems. Zero-knowledge proofs are cryptographic protocols that allow one party, known as the prover, to prove to another party, known as the verifier, that a certain statement is true without revealing any additional information apart from the validity of the statement.
StarkWare was founded in 2018 by Eli Ben-Sasson, Alessandro Chiesa, Michael Riabzev, and Uri Kolodny. The company aims to address the scalability and privacy limitations of existing blockchain networks by leveraging zero-knowledge proofs. By utilizing this technology, StarkWare aims to enable high-throughput, low-cost, and privacy-preserving transactions on public blockchains.
One of the notable projects developed by StarkWare is StarkEx, a scalable off-chain protocol for decentralized exchanges (DEXs). StarkEx utilizes zero-knowledge proofs to enable the processing of large volumes of trades off-chain, reducing congestion on the underlying blockchain while maintaining the security guarantees of the blockchain itself. This allows for faster and more efficient trading on decentralized exchanges.
StarkWare has also collaborated with other prominent blockchain projects and companies. For example, they partnered with Ethereum to bring their scaling technology to the Ethereum network. This collaboration resulted in the implementation of zk-rollups, a layer 2 scaling solution that significantly improves Ethereum's scalability by batching multiple transactions together and submitting them as a single proof on the Ethereum mainnet.
Overall, StarkWare is at the forefront of developing and implementing cutting-edge zero-knowledge proof technology to address scalability and privacy challenges in the blockchain space. Their work has the potential to significantly enhance the performance and usability of blockchain networks, making them more suitable for a wide range of applications.