Alchemy Adds Starknet Support for Ethereum Layer-2 Development
Starkware, the Israel-based blockchain startup behind Starknet, has announced a strategic partnership with infrastructure provider Alchemy. The integration gives Alchemy customers access to Starknet, Starkware’s Ethereum layer-2 network, allowing developers to build decentralized finance and Web3 applications using Alchemy’s infrastructure tools together with Starknet’s zero-knowledge rollup architecture.
Alchemy is widely known for providing blockchain APIs and node services to developers and enterprises. Its infrastructure products already support networks such as Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Flow. By adding Starknet to that stack, the company is extending its reach into the fast-growing ecosystem of zero-knowledge scaling solutions, which many in the industry view as a key path toward making blockchain applications more usable at scale.
Starkware said the partnership is intended to make it easier and more accessible for a growing number of developers to build on Starknet. For teams already familiar with Alchemy’s tooling, the integration could reduce friction when experimenting with or deploying applications on Ethereum’s layer-2 infrastructure.
ZK Rollups at the Center of the Scalability Push
At the core of the announcement is Starknet’s use of ZK-rollup technology. According to Starkware, Starknet relies on validity proofs to batch transactions off-chain and then verify them on-chain. This design is intended to improve throughput while reducing costs for users and developers. The company claims that Starknet fees can be 100x lower than Ethereum layer-1 fees, a figure highlighted as one of the network’s main advantages.
Alchemy, in its own statement, said it supports Starknet because the network’s use of validity proofs and ZK-rollups addresses some of Web3’s most persistent bottlenecks. Rather than pushing every transaction directly through Ethereum mainnet, rollup systems bundle many transactions together and settle them on-chain in a more efficient way. This can substantially lower costs while maintaining a security relationship with Ethereum.
The company also contrasted validity rollups with other layer-2 approaches, particularly optimistic rollups. According to Alchemy, one difference is that validity rollups use cryptographic proofs to demonstrate whether transactions are valid, while some competing scaling models can involve longer confirmation windows. That distinction has become a major part of the discussion around the future of Ethereum scaling, especially for applications where speed, cost efficiency, and user experience are critical.
Why the Integration Matters for Developers
The partnership is notable not only because it links two well-known names in blockchain infrastructure, but also because it reflects the increasing importance of developer experience in the race among layer-2 networks. Infrastructure providers such as Alchemy often serve as the gateway through which teams interact with blockchains. When a network is added to a major API and node platform, it can become significantly easier for builders to test, deploy, and scale applications.
For Starknet, the Alchemy integration may help accelerate adoption by connecting the network to an established developer base. For Alchemy, support for Starknet broadens its offering at a time when demand for efficient Ethereum scaling solutions remains high. DeFi, NFT, gaming, and broader Web3 applications all require infrastructure that can handle more transactions at lower cost than Ethereum mainnet alone has historically been able to offer.
The announcement also underscores a broader market trend: infrastructure and scaling are becoming more tightly linked. In earlier stages of blockchain development, the focus was often on launching new chains or protocols. Increasingly, however, the emphasis has shifted toward usability—how developers can access networks, how quickly applications can be shipped, and how affordable it is for end users to interact with those products.
Starknet’s Momentum After Mainnet Alpha Launch
The integration follows another important milestone for the project. At the end of February, Starkware revealed that Starknet Alpha had been deployed on mainnet. That deployment marked a significant step in Starknet’s progression from a technical concept into a more accessible network for broader use.
The company has also attracted notable investor backing. In November, Starkware announced a $50 million Series C round led by Sequoia Capital. With $173 million in total funding, the startup’s valuation reached $2 billion. Those figures place Starkware among the more prominent infrastructure-focused firms in the Ethereum scaling landscape.
Eli Ben-Sasson, co-inventor of Starknet and co-founder and president of Starkware, described the Alchemy partnership as a major step forward. In his view, access to Alchemy’s infrastructure will allow the developer community to engage more easily with Starknet and use the power of validity proofs on what he described as a cutting-edge permissionless scaling platform.
A Sign of Continued Competition in Ethereum Scaling
Although the announcement is centered on one specific integration, it also reflects the broader competition unfolding across Ethereum layer-2 ecosystems. Starknet is part of a growing group of networks trying to solve scalability without sacrificing too much on decentralization or security. At the same time, infrastructure providers are racing to support the chains and rollups most likely to attract long-term developer activity.
The mention of protocols such as dYdX, which uses ZK-based rollup technology similar in concept to Starknet’s underlying framework, further places the news in context. Zero-knowledge systems are no longer purely experimental; they are increasingly tied to live applications and real trading activity. As more protocols seek lower fees and higher throughput, support from a company like Alchemy may become an important differentiator for adoption.
In practical terms, the partnership signals that the Ethereum scaling conversation is moving beyond theory and closer to standard developer workflows. Rather than forcing builders to assemble fragmented tools on their own, integrations like this aim to make advanced scaling solutions easier to access through familiar infrastructure layers.
If that trend continues, the long-term winners in Web3 may not be defined only by technical architecture, but also by how smoothly they fit into the everyday tools developers already use. In that sense, Alchemy’s integration of Starknet is more than a product update—it is another sign that the competition to scale Ethereum is increasingly being fought on the terrain of accessibility, tooling, and execution.