Odaily Planet Daily reports that StarkWare has announced Starknet's official entry into Phase 4, aiming to create a faster, more decentralized, and more private network while strengthening its connection to Bitcoin. Key highlights of this phase include the STRK20 framework, which supports privacy features for ERC20 tokens, and the strkBTC asset, which enables exchange for native Bitcoin and offers privacy-preserving transaction options. Additionally, Starknet v0.15.0 will introduce decentralized block verification, and Staking v3 and v4 will progressively achieve full network decentralization.
In addition, Starknet is advancing the OP_CAT upgrade for Bitcoin to enable trustless settlement and researching additional Bitcoin bridging solutions such as BitVM and ColliderVM to drive Bitcoin DeFi development on Starknet. Meanwhile, the S-two verifier will further optimize client proof verification and enhance network scalability and privacy protection. Starknet is also committed to achieving full quantum security to prepare for the post-quantum computing era of blockchain and Bitcoin.