STARK zk coprocessor unlocks pure ZK scalability on Arbitrum. We achieve 2.1x gas savings and 40% faster finality by verifying raw STARK proofs directly via Stylus, eliminating the wrapping tax.
For years, ZK rollups have been forced to compromise. Because verifying STARK proofs on the EVM is too expensive, developers wrap STARKs inside SNARKs (like Groth16). This introduces the "Wrapping Tax":
Slower Finality: Extra time needed to generate the wrapping proof (~30-40% overhead).
Security Trade-offs: Introduces "Trusted Setups" and loses post-quantum resistance.
We built a Native STARK Verifier using Rust and Arbitrum Stylus. By leveraging Stylus's WASM execution environment as a ZK Coprocessor, we bypass the EVM's limitations entirely.
Key Innovations:
Pure Verification: We verify raw STARK proofs directly on L2. No SNARK wrapping, no trusted setups.
Bare-Metal Performance: Utilizing Stylus's 64-bit architecture to optimize Poseidon hashing and Merkle path verification.
Real-World Practicality: Built with standard, safe Rust libraries (plonky3/poseidon-rs) for immediate production readiness.
We compared our Stylus implementation against a standard Solidity verifier for a Depth-32 Merkle Tree:
Solidity (EVM): 17.32M Gas (Consumes 54% of a block) ❌ Unsustainable
Stylus (WASM): 8.16M Gas (Consumes 25% of a block) ✅ Scalable
Result:
~2.1x Gas Savings
~40% Faster Proving Time (due to eliminated wrapping steps)
Live Dashboard:
- [starkverifier.vercel.app] - Real-time gas comparison
Deployed on Arbitrum Sepolia:
- Stylus Verifier (Rust/WASM):
0x327c65e04215bd5575d60b00ba250ed5dd25a4fc](https://sepolia.arbiscan.io/address/0x327c65e04215bd5575d60b00ba250ed5dd25a4fc)
- Solidity Verifier (EVM):
0x96326E368b6f2fdA258452ac42B1aC013238f5Ce](https://sepolia.arbiscan.io/address/0x96326E368b6f2fdA258452ac42B1aC013238f5Ce)
Network Details:
- Chain ID: 421614
- RPC: https://sepolia-rollup.arbitrum.io/rpc
Arbitrum Stylus (Rust): Core verification logic (Poseidon, Merkle)
Solidity: Comparison contracts for benchmarking
Next.js 16 + thirdweb: Live comparison dashboard
This project proves that Arbitrum is not just an EVM-equivalent chain, but a high-performance computation layer capable of handling heavy cryptographic workloads that other chains cannot.