Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin talks about the major milestones of the Ethereum L2

According to L2Beat, StarkNet (STRK) has leveled up with the official release of Stage 1. This means that users are no longer completely dependent on the mercy of their core teams. Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, granted his approval and pinned Starknet’s status as one of the few Layer 2 he considers worth paying attention.

Buterin himself was actually part of the Strk Token Drop last year. According to blockchain data, he received his stash through Starknet’s Lockedtokengrant and quietly moved over 2 million tokens from Gnosis safety from his Gnosis Safe about nine months ago.

There were no comments. No labels were placed. Just a silent transfer, the stash is no longer visible to casual observers. It is unclear whether it is privacy, custody, or anything else’s movement.

Stage 1, defined in L2Beat, means that the network has finally adopted important safety measures. Now, the way that a small number of councils will step in if the sequencer begins censoring or malfunctioning, is now the way that upgrade delays, security councils with members that exceed insiders only, and, importantly, if the sequencer begins to censor or malfunction. In short, users have a backup plan.

Previously, Starknet was in the stage 0 realm, and everything was based on trust in the developer.

Next is Stage 2. This is a point of full decentralization in which a single team or council cannot change rules, censorship transactions, or freezes. No one has reached this stage at the moment. However, Starknet says it aims to reach that point by early 2026.

Furthermore, they do not limit themselves to Ethereum. In the long run, they plan to directly bridge Ethereum and Bitcoin, making the first L2 that operates in both ecosystems StarkNet. To support that vision, our core team, Starkware, has already stacked ETH and BTC.