Introduction

Recently, Starknet has continuously captured market attention, receiving support and pursuit from numerous institutions and users. As of February 23, L2BEAT data shows that Starknet's TVL has surpassed $1.4 billion, setting a new historical high, currently reported at $1.48 billion, with a 7-day increase of 705.42%.

From Airdrop Claiming to TVL Surge of 6 Times

On February 14 (UTC+8), Starknet opened the eligibility query portal for claiming, and officially opened airdrop claims on February 20, marking the beginning of Starknet's explosive popularity. Although there were instances of duplicate address records and incorrect markings during this period, it did not affect the market's enthusiasm at all.

According to Token Flow data, on the very day the claims opened, about 380,000 users claimed a total of 340 million Starknet tokens (STRK), accounting for 57.99% of the total airdrop amount.

Additionally, on the second day of the claims opening (February 21), Starknet's TVL data surged sixfold, exceeding $1.48 billion at its peak, and remained above $1.2 billion. Meanwhile, STRK was listed on multiple leading trading platforms, with the current token price around $1.91. The total amount of this airdrop is nearly equivalent to the TVL growth, indicating that almost all tokens have entered a locked state, which seems to reflect the current market's affirmation of Starknet's value consensus.

Intense Heat Explosion, Starknet Supported by Leading Platforms

Looking back at the relevant information, Starknet's popularity has almost exploded in the past two weeks, especially around the claims opening on the 20th, when major trading platforms such as Bitget, Binance, OKX, Bithumb, and Coinbase successively announced and launched STRK spot trading. Binance launched the U-based STRK perpetual contract on the 21st, with a maximum leverage of 50 times.
Additionally, Binance and OKX almost simultaneously released STRK distribution plans for ETH staking users, and the OKX Web3 wallet announced on the 21st that it fully supports the Starknet ecosystem. For a time, Starknet became the darling of the market and institutions, and based on our perception, it seems that Starknet's prosperity and the market trends it brings are just around the corner.

Recent Related Developments

• On February 10, the Starknet blockchain explorer Voyager released the STRK airdrop data dashboard page;
• On February 14, Starknet opened the eligibility query portal and announced the claim opening time;
• On February 17, the Starknet ecosystem AMM protocol JediSwap launched Jediswap v2, similar in design to Uniswap v3;
• On February 19, it was reported that the smart contract wallet Argent launched a multi-in-one solution Portfolio for managing Starknet assets;
• On February 20, Pyth Network announced that it had launched STRK/USD price feed data;
• On February 22, the Starknet Foundation tweeted that the DeFi Spring event officially started, with a series of tasks conducted continuously on Starknet for one month;
• On February 22, Polygon Labs collaborated with the StarkWare team to launch the fast proof system Circle STARK, planning to merge it into Plonky3;
• On February 23, Starknet tweeted that the StarkGate 2.0 mainnet has been launched;
• On February 23, EthSign tweeted that it has integrated the Starknet wallet, allowing users to seamlessly log in, send, and sign contracts through the Starknet wallet;

Narrative and Technical Dual Support, Does Starknet Live Up to Its Name?

StarkNet's recognized advantages come from its technical aspects: resistance to quantum attacks, STARKs technology, and a strong engineering team, along with endorsements from well-known institutions and leading KOLs, including Vitalik. This gives StarkNet a strong narrative and provides us with significant imagination space in terms of market capitalization.
However, the current popularity seems to obscure certain factors that may make it appear inconsistent with its market capitalization and heat:

Firstly, StarkNet's ecosystem is still in its early stages, with relatively poor development. Due to issues such as development experience and user experience, it still lags behind Layer 2 solutions like zkSync, let alone compare with the ecosystems of OP and ARB, much less replace or surpass them, which seems impossible in the short term.

Secondly, at the current price, StarkNet's market capitalization is close to $20 billion, which has already surpassed the market capitalizations of OP and ARB. If calculated based on the amount of institutional investment and valuation, StarkNet's current market capitalization is still inflated.
From these two perspectives, with the explosive growth of TVL and the concentrated outbreak of market enthusiasm, Starknet's market capitalization appears significantly inflated. Even with the dual support of narrative and technology, it seems to be inconsistent with reality, raising concerns about whether the current token price and market capitalization are merely a temporary manifestation influenced by the environment.

Is Starknet's Performance a Boom or Market Inflation?

Starknet's explosive performance is both a result of its own accumulated energy over time and related to the current market trends, stemming from people's FOMO emotions towards Starknet itself and the market.
From an objective perspective, on one hand, Starknet's market capitalization performance shows clear inflation. Although it is accompanied by market enthusiasm and support from institutions and VCs, Starknet's current ecosystem and applications do not support its current performance, making a return to rationality highly likely; on the other hand, the entire market is currently in an upward trend, and the overall market enthusiasm is continuously heating up. When users' expectations for the market and Starknet overlap, this inflation may only be superficial. As the market enthusiasm and trend continue, Starknet's value may shift from inflated to real.
Alternatively, it may not be that Starknet's performance is inflated, but rather that the market is continuously expanding with the influx of funds and accumulation of emotions, with Starknet being the most eye-catching one in this market expansion. This seems to be another test before the arrival of a bull market, and perhaps the next moment will bring us the long-awaited surprise; all of this still needs time to verify.

About Starknet
StarkNet is an Ethereum Rollup Layer 2 based on ZK-STARKs technology, with its parent company being StarkWare, which also has StarkEX for enterprise services and StarkNet Layer 2 for consumer use. StarkNet balances privacy and scalability, allowing DApps to achieve unlimited scalability and technical extension without compromising ETH's composability and security, and is considered an effective solution for high throughput and security needs.
Advantages of Starknet

• Transactions can be packaged without knowing the validators, eliminating the need for a seven-day waiting period when transferring assets across chains;
• Balances privacy and scalability, efficiently protecting user transaction data privacy and data security;
• Highlights in ensuring network stability, promoting V3 trading, and reducing L1 fees to lower transaction costs;
• Each part of the native account abstraction has its unique role, helping to enhance the overall user experience;
• The hardware signing feature utilizes the device's built-in secure subsystem, ensuring user keys remain secure even if the application processor core is compromised.

Problems with Starknet

• The official cross-chain bridge StarkGate has just launched and may face smart contract risks;
• Using a standalone Cairo language may hinder developer entry, leading to ecosystem development falling short of expectations;
• The current ecosystem is significantly lagging, which may allow other projects to surpass it technologically;
  Note: All opinions above are for reference only and do not constitute investment advice. If there are any objections, please feel free to contact us for corrections.
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Positions available: Investment Research Analyst / Operations Manager / Visual Designer.