By cryptoadmin Starknet’s $STRK token has more than quadrupled in roughly four weeks, gaining 322% by Sunday evening and far outpacing bitcoin and ether, according to The Defiant’s calculations using CoinGecko data.
$STRK traded at about $0.1182 at 8:49 p.m. ET on Oct. 11, about 61.5% above the $0.0732 level The Defiant reported at 8:36 p.m. ET on Oct. 9. The additional gain extends a rally that had already sharply outperformed the two largest cryptocurrencies.
For holders, the rally has not been accompanied by a completed change in the network’s security model: Starknet still settles transactions on Ethereum, while its backers advocate becoming an independent Layer 1. Growth in the dollar value locked in its DeFi protocols has been much smaller than the token’s rise.
The approximately 28-day price comparison starts at 8 p.m. ET on Sept. 13, when $STRK was about $0.0280, and ends around 8:49–8:51 p.m. ET on Oct. 11. Over that matched window, $STRK gained 322.26%, versus 9.17% for bitcoin and 2.69% for ether.
Starting instead at 8 p.m. ET on Oct. 4, $STRK gained 101.70% over approximately seven days, while bitcoin fell 3.04% and ether lost 6.70%.
The advance included reversals: $STRK fell about 17% between late Oct. 4 and early Oct. 8 ET before rebounding.
More Trading, Modest TVL Growth
DefiLlama’s chain data show Starknet’s total value locked rising from $159.6 million to $167.8 million between its Sept. 14 and Oct. 11 UTC snapshots—a 5.1% increase over 27 days. That comparison ends about a day before the price window. TVL measures the value held in DeFi protocols, and changes include asset-price effects rather than just net deposits.
Trading expanded more sharply. DefiLlama’s daily DEX series recorded $6.3 million on Sept. 14 and $41.4 million on Oct. 10, using UTC calendar days. Those figures cover decentralized-exchange trading across Starknet, not just $STRK trades. Neither measure establishes what caused the token’s buying.
L1 Advocacy Strengthens
StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson stepped up his support for independence on Oct. 11: “World needs Starknet as a quantum-safe L1.” He added: “Market says it.”
That follows StarkWare’s Oct. 10 statement that an independent L1 is “our clearest path forward.” Starknet’s own Oct. 9 explanation, however, described the move as “a question, not a decision.” The newer statements advocate the change without announcing its approval or implementation.
The issue is control over security upgrades. As an Ethereum Layer 2, Starknet sends cryptographic proofs of transaction execution to Ethereum for verification. Ben-Sasson said independence would let the network control its security migrations rather than wait for Ethereum or Bitcoin. Starknet has set a 2027 target for full quantum resistance.
StarkWare’s published quantum-readiness roadmap says all protocol-level changes remain subject to approval through Starknet governance.