As the dust settled after the much-anticipated switch from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) on the Ethereum network, Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder of Starkware, talked about how it went and what it could mean for the future.
Ben-Sasson talked to Gareth Jenkinson of Asian Trade at the Token2049 event about the current state of things after Merge and how it affects layer-2 projects like Starkware. The executive also talked about how layer-2 products are being used and how interested people are in them, as well as the crypto winter.
When Ben-Sasson looked back at how the Ethereum Merge was done, he was happy that the change went smoothly and said that everything went as it should have. The manager told them that:
“The most important part is that it went off without a hitch. Everything that was supposed to happen did. And none of the things that worried people came true. “That’s wonderful news.”
The executive also talked about how important it was that the new Ethereum network was better for the environment. “It makes less of a mark on the environment. “That’s the big thing, and it also looks like things could get better in the future,” he said.
Ben-Sasson says that the Merge also makes Ethereum a better layer for settling transactions and a better platform for layer-2 solutions. The executive said that this is a very important change for Starkware’s products because they would then be able to offer scaling, compression of computation, and other improvements that can be made with their technology.
Ben-Sasson also said that, other than the Ethereum Merge, most of the adoption and interest in Starkware solutions come from projects that were also successful in layer-1 Ethereum. This includes things like nonfungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain gaming, and decentralised finance (DEFI). The executive also talked about what he thought would happen in the future. He told me:
“I expect that, at some point, being able to do much more massive computation with a very low gas footprint will lead to completely new and unanticipated applications that will be much more important.”
With everything going on, the executive also said that, despite the fact that many people call the current state of the crypto and blockchain space a “crypto winter,” their team feels differently. “It feels like spring leading up to a warm summer,” he said.
