Starknet holders vote 93.5% to study leaving Ethereum for their own post-quantum chain, as StarkWare's CEO calls Ethereum's 2029 target "too late"

Starknet's token holders have voted to explore a break from Ethereum. The seven-day governance poll, which opened on October 15 and closed Thursday morning, ended with about 93.5% of voting power supporting research into making Starknet an independent Layer 1 with post-quantum security, The Block and Unchained reported. Unchained put the split at 93.52% yes, about 4.6% no and 1.9% asking for more information, across roughly 489 million STRK; The Block reported that more than 2,800 wallets took part, while Unchained counted 3,236 ballots, and that StarkWare itself did not vote.

The result decides nothing on its own. The poll was non-binding, StarkWare and the Starknet Foundation will now run a working group and publish findings, and any concrete transition would go back to a further community vote, Unchained reported. No date has been set, The Block said. StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson said he hopes to release a draft whitepaper for public scrutiny in November, The Block reported.

The argument is about time. Starknet relies on Ethereum for its bridge and data availability, which StarkWare identifies as its remaining quantum-security dependencies, Cointelegraph reported when the vote opened; the proposal says those parts cannot become quantum-safe independently of Ethereum, The Block reported. Starknet has set a 2027 target for full post-quantum security; Ethereum developers are aiming for initial protocol-level protections by 2029, Cointelegraph reported. Ben-Sasson said that target is "too late, and deadlines slip," according to The Block. STRK remains the network's token, no new token will be issued and Ethereum bridges will stay open, the Starknet Foundation has said, according to The Block.

What to watch next: the November whitepaper and the follow-up vote it would trigger.