Ethereum ZK-Rollup Developer StarkWare Raises $50M at $2B Valuation
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Ethereum ZK-Rollup Developer StarkWare Raises $50M at $2B Valuation

THELOGICALINDIAN - Sequoia Capital led the Series C allotment annular

ZK-Rollup developer StarkWare has aloft $50 actor in a Series C allotment annular that ethics the close at $2 billion. The aggregation affairs to barrage StarkNet Alpha on Ethereum mainnet by the end of November.

StarkWare Increases Valuation

Just weeks afore StarkNet Alpha’s mainnet launch, investors are acceleration down. 

The ZK-Rollup developer appear the end of its Series C allotment annular Tuesday afterwards adopting $50 actor from several absolute investors. Sequoia Capital led the round, with advance funds Paradigm, Three Arrows Capital, Alameda Research, and Founders Fund additionally participating. 

StarkWare uses ZK-Rollups to calibration Ethereum. ZK-Rollups array affairs off-chain and actualize ZK-SNARKs, which get submitted to the abject chain. They acquiesce for faster affairs with decidedly bargain gas fees. Rollup technology currently comes in two flavors—ZK and Optimistic. Optimistic Rollups such as Arbitrum and Optimism await on assurance amid parties, consistent in a claiming aeon area anyone can altercation the angary of a transaction. This agency it can booty up to a anniversary for users to alteration funds aback to Ethereum mainnet. However, ZK-Rollups abide proofs to the mainnet continuously, acceptance users to alteration funds aback instantly. 

Currently, StarkWare has chip StarkEx, its ZK-Rollup ascent engine, into several crypto projects such as the decentralized barter dYdX and the fantasy soccer NFT belvedere Sorare. However, with the barrage of StarkNet Alpha planned after this month, developers will be able to apart barrage acute affairs on the network, aperture up the ascent technology to whoever wants to body on it. 

As gas fees and bottleneck on Ethereum appearance no signs of decreasing, antagonism for able ascent solutions is heating up. In September, Enya and OMG Network launched an Optimistic Rollup band-aid alleged Boba Network, aiming to abate the claiming aeon time and accumulate withdrawals. 

Earlier today, meanwhile, Layer 2 Polygon unveiled its own ZK-Rollup alleged Miden, developed beneath Polygon’s $1 billion armamentarium allocated to ZK-based projects. Miden will attempt with absolute ZK-Rollups such as zkSync, Loopring, and StarkWare’s accessible StarkNet to accommodate ascent solutions for Ethereum dApps. 

Disclosure: At the time of autograph this feature, the columnist endemic ETH and several added cryptocurrencies.