👻Aave: Aave x Starkware Phase 1

Voting Recommendation by (Discord: Raho#0007)

Summary:

Begin bootstrapping Aave ecosystem over Starkware, Phase 1.

This proposal (if passed) will begin the progressive process of integrating Aave on Starknet, Starkware’s ZK-Rollup.

ZK’s: ZK rollup technology is one of the most highly anticipated advancements to come out of cryptography in years, and for very good reason! For those of us that are not math wizards (me!), ZK’s are an extremely complex phenomenon that is very difficult to grasp.

ZK stands for ‘Zero Knowledge’, and the name ‘ZK rollups’ comes from the cryptography involved - Zero Knowledge Proofs. In short, Zero Knowledge Proofs are able to verify that a statement is correct, without knowing any information regarding the person that made the statement. ZK rollup’s are a complete rabbithole of their own, and one that I truly encourage everybody explore. I will provide some links from the Rabbithole Discord server (Shout out to @cadena !).

Zero Knowledge proofs are considered by many to be the future of Ethereum scaling. They allow for users to complete transactions on the Zk chain, which are coupled with the Ethereum L1 chain’s security. Zk rollups are able to verify that a transaction is complete, or work is done, without having to use the full transaction logs of Ethereum mainnet. Zero knowledge proofs are truly incredible, but to explain them with the respect they deserve would fill pages, and is best left to the experts in the links below.

Starkware:

Starkware Labs, launched in 2018, is one of the many teams behind Starknet’s development. (Full list here:https://starknet.io/what-is-starknet)

Quote from the creators:

StarkNet is a permissionless decentralized Validity-Rollup (also known as a “ZK-Rollup”). It operates as an L2 network over Ethereum, enabling any dApp to achieve unlimited scale for its computation – without compromising Ethereum’s composability and security, thanks to StarkNet’s reliance on the safest and most scalable cryptographic proof system – STARK

Starknet is an Ethereum scaling solution, which has gained very high praises from Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum Founder), and the Web 3 community. It is very highly anticipated due to the fact that it relies on Ethereum L1 for security, while also providing a cost effective way to transact. It is thought to be much like ‘having your cake, and eating it too’!

Starknet’s vision for scaling Ethereum is aligned very well with Rabbithole’s core values of Minnows > Whales. This is due to the fact that they have spent years working on a solution to scale the Ethereum Ecosystem, and their research (along with other ZK research) is thought by some to be one of the largest milestones in cryptocurrency’s history to date.

Proposal:

This proposal is to begin the process of bootstrapping Aave over Starkware. This process has been proposed in two stages.

The first stage will be a starting point, where Aave will begin to build on Starkware, and become familiar with the technology (Starkware uses a programming language called Cairo, instead of Solidity). During this stage, token wrapping functionality and other useful tools on Starknet. Some examples of this are aToken wrappers, which will allow users to wrap their funds on Ethereum, and withdraw them on starknet using Aave’s upcoming release of portals.

Another huge benefit of this proposal is that it opens the door for Aave to build their own L3. Many of you are likely thinking ‘We just got L2’s, what in the world is an L3?’! Starkwares L2 technology allows for protocols to actually build their own independent blockchain! These have been called L3’s! (More info on L3’s Here:https://medium.com/starkware/fractal-scaling-from-l2-to-l3-7fe238ecfb4f ). Aave has expressed interest in creating their own L3, and this proposal gives way for this to happen!

Timeline:

If/when this proposal is passed, the tentative timeline for this project is as follows:

Week 1-3: ‘definition. brainstorming and architecture.’

Week 3-7: ‘Implementation - Solidity’

Week 4-9: ‘Implementation - Cairo’

Week 8-11: ‘Implementation - Libraries’

Week 10-11: ‘Security audits’

Week 12: ‘Final review and delivery’

Funding:

The total costs expected for both phases of this project is $385,000 to be split between Starkware and Aave. That means it will cost Aave a total of $192,500, which will be requested from the DAO treasury in two parts. The first part being $100,000 which will be voted on following the determination of this proposal. The second $92,500 set to be granted in the time leading up to the smart contract audits (month 3).

Recommendation:

I recommend that the Rabbithole Metagovernance vote yes on the proposal for Aave to begin building on Starkware. Starkware is on of the most highly esteemed layer 2 teams in Web 3, and they will play a crucial role over the coming years in Ethereum scaling and also the Ethereum 2 merge. The Starkware team aligns itself with Rabbithole core values, after working on an extremely complex scaling solution for the past few years. Aave and Aave’s users also stand to benefit from this integration as it plays a huge role in Aave’s multi-chain vision. From what I read on the Aave forums, the community is totally behind this proposal, and I believe it is positive sum which aligns with the Rabbithole metagovernance values!

Proposal: https://snapshot.org/#/aave.eth/proposal/0x56eb24ad5e2811990899653155caee022a80f3800e51b2b37ecc9254a0a51335

Aave governance Forum:

https://governance.aave.com/t/request-for-approval-aave-starkware-phase-i/7145

https://governance.aave.com/t/arc-deploying-aave-on-starknet/6726

Open Questions:

Feedback:

Execution Status: Executed

Vote: Yes

Community vote