Starknet Cairo Appchain Launch Marks Shift in L2 Vertical Scaling

Starknet has launched its Cairo-native appchain, shifting the L2 vertical scaling paradigm. This move marks a significant change from virtual machine emulation to native execution, using MLIR and LLVM to compile Sierra programs into optimized machine-level instructions.

The sequencer now processes transactions faster by running programs directly on the operating system in the CPU's native instruction set, removing processing overhead found in previous methods. Developers can launch custom Starknet instances with specific configurations, including block size, latency, data availability mode, and consensus mechanisms.

Starknet has recorded an average of 127 transactions per second in October, with transaction fees averaging $0.002 per transaction during these periods. The Cairo language is Rust-like and ergonomic, making it easier for developers to work with.

In related news, Immutable has expanded its platform to become a cross-rollup liquidity platform built on StarkNet. This move follows the $200 million Series C financing led by Temasek. Immutable allows players to trade assets matched across multiple Ethereum Layer 2 and Layer 3 rollups, solving the liquidity fractionalization problem that exists with individual rollups today.

Immutable provides Layer 3s to games with more than 10 million active users that require dedicated throughput. Developers deploy custom smart contracts to migrate L1 games to Immutable, enabling users to own in-game items through a high-performance environment.