Startup Behind Zk-Starks Breakthrough to Seek Cryptocurrencies As Customers

Rather than launching a new cryptocurrency, founders Eli Ben-Sasson and Alessandro Chiesa are going the corporate route, offering their novel technology to actual blockchains in exchange for their native assets, or what the team calls the "Tech for tokens model."

"Development teams are really like investors, but instead of investing money, they invest technology and skills," Ben-Sasson told CoinDesk.

In the first stage of the company, Ben-Sasson told CoinDesk they'll be partnering with some major figures from the blockchain space, to bring zcash-style private transactions to public ledgers.

While the partnerships are yet to be confirmed, Ben-Sasson said that there is "Plenty of interest" from a range of different on-chain and off-chain cryptocurrency efforts.

It's notable considering while Ben-Sasson and Chiesa were both founding scientists at zcash, the new technology offers a wholly different outcome.

"From a very rational point of view in this department of you know, single transactions, shielded transactions, starks are good, but they are not unique. They are one out of many solutions," Ben-Sasson told CoinDesk.

"When you go through scalability starks really stand out," Ben-Sasson told CoinDesk,.

Contrary to many scammers claiming otherwise, Starkware is not doing an ICO. And while ultimately, a zk-stark powered cryptocurrency isn't unfeasible, Ben-Sasson said that for now, the company will focus on what they do best.

"We're very proud of our engineering team," Ben-Sasson said, "They're very talented in both math and programming."

Plus, ultimately, Ben-Sasson stressed that creating a coin for every new technology that emerges isn't a sustainable trend, and for now, it's enough to contribute to existing projects as they stand.