Starknet asks its holders whether to leave Ethereum and become its own quantum-proof chain, and 99.9% of the early votes say yes

Starknet, one of the larger Ethereum Layer 2 networks, is putting a once-unthinkable question to its token holders: should it leave Ethereum altogether? A seven-day vote opened on Thursday on whether the network should explore becoming an independent Layer 1 with post-quantum security under its own control. By the time The Block reported, 177.6 million STRK had been cast and 99.91% of it backed the idea.

The argument from StarkWare, the company that develops Starknet, is about speed. Starknet already uses hash-based STARK proofs, and its accounts can adopt post-quantum signatures without a protocol upgrade. But its bridge to Ethereum and its data availability still depend on Ethereum's infrastructure and upgrade schedule, which StarkWare says remain quantum-vulnerable and outside Starknet's control. Cointelegraph noted that Ethereum's developers set up a post-quantum team in March with a target of initial protocol-level protections by 2029. StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson wrote that "Quantum-proofing crypto is urgent, so we must move at lightning speed."

The vote is non-binding and does not trigger anything on its own. A yes leads to more detailed proposals and further polls; a no keeps the post-quantum work on the existing Layer 2 path. StarkWare first floated the Layer 1 idea on October 8, and earlier this week it introduced Shadow Accounts, a privacy feature that lets users hold positions under persistent pseudonymous identities. The poll closes on October 22, with results published afterwards.