Starknet poll backs layer 1 research with 93.5% of voting power

Starknet's community poll on becoming an independent layer 1 closed on Oct. 22 with 93.52% of voting power in favor of researching the move, and StarkWare and the Starknet Foundation say they have started joint work on what such a transition would require.

The non-binding Snapshot poll asked STRK stakers and delegators whether the two organizations should research an L1 path, seven days after it opened. It drew 3,236 votes and roughly 489 million STRK in voting power. About 4.6% of voting power chose no and roughly 1.9% picked the neutral option that asked for more information, Unchained reported.

The Starknet Foundation posted results on its governance forum the morning the poll closed. "The poll gives StarkWare and the Starknet Foundation a clear mandate to begin research on the L1 path," the post says. A joint working group from the two organizations leads the work, which the post says starts now, with findings to be published on the same forum.

Scope first. The working group will research the technical requirements of an L1 path, the trade-offs involved, and the implications for users, builders and the wider ecosystem, the Foundation said, and both organizations will coordinate resources and commit time to that effort. The poll question itself was narrow: voters chose between yes to further research, no to further research, and a neutral option pending more information, so the 93.52% majority registers support for studying the idea rather than approving a construction schedule.

The result lands two weeks after Starknet first put numbers on its quantum target. On Oct. 8 the network said it was considering becoming an independent post-quantum L1 and set 2027 as its goal, and Ben-Sasson raised the question the same day in a post on X. Two days later StarkWare wrote that Starknet becoming an independent L1 is its clearest path forward, and the poll opened on Oct. 15. StarkWare's three-phase post-quantum roadmap from June 30 had left the bridge and blob data availability tied to Ethereum's own upgrade and did not mention an L1.

The post draws a hard line around what the vote settled. "This governance poll does not approve Starknet's transition to an L1," it reads. "Formal approval will be sought once the research and design phase concludes." If the research supports moving ahead, detailed proposals would follow and go to the community for further votes.

Starknet is currently an Ethereum layer 2, and the case for an L1 rests on timing around quantum security. Its STARK proofs rely on hash functions, and its programmable accounts can adopt new signature schemes without a protocol upgrade, the Foundation post says. The post points to StarkWare's NIST-informed assessment of cryptographic agility, in which Starknet is the only network assessed with evidence across all eight measures.

The constraint the Foundation identifies is Ethereum itself. Ethereum is targeting December 2029 for a quantum-resistant L1, and as a layer 2 Starknet's path to full post-quantum security stays tied to that timetable, according to the post. Starknet's official account said earlier the network is targeting full post-quantum security by 2027 and that, as an L2, it "cannot complete that transition while its bridge and data availability remain tied to Ethereum's timeline."

StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson wrote on X that "any path to transition to an L1 will be brought to a community vote" and that STRK will stay the network's token. He called the poll result "a huge shift and a milestone" and wrote that "the AI and quantum challenges ahead require it," Unchained reported.

Two boundaries held through the campaign for a yes vote. No new token would be issued, and bridges from Ethereum into Starknet would stay open whatever the outcome, language carried in the poll discussion and repeated in Unchained's coverage of the result.

The Foundation's results post asks the community to shape the research directly. Node operators, app builders and STRK holders are invited to reply with the questions they want the research to address, and the working group will use those replies to set priorities and answer them as findings come in. The forum thread remains open alongside the governance process that produced the 93.52% result.