Starknet Mainnet Restored Following Critical Proving Flaw; Reliability Questions Mount

Starknet’s mainnet experienced a significant operational disruption early this week, triggering widespread concerns about the layer-2 network’s capacity to maintain stable service. The halt, which lasted approximately two hours, stemmed from a bug in the proving mechanism and forced engineers to roll back the network to block 5,187,263. This incident marks the second major mainnet interruption in recent months, intensifying scrutiny around Starknet’s system architecture as the platform pushes toward broader adoption and ecosystem expansion.

Critical Mainnet Halt Exposes Proving Infrastructure Vulnerabilities

Starknet’s mainnet came to a standstill early Monday when the network detected a flaw within its proving mechanism. The system automatically halted block production to prevent propagation of corrupted data across the network. During this window, transaction submissions and finalization capabilities were suspended, leaving users unable to move assets or execute smart contracts. The Starknet engineering team began immediate investigation and identified the root cause as a bug affecting the pending transaction processing pipeline.

Recovery efforts involved comprehensive testing to confirm the scope of the error and establish safe reversion protocols. Engineers ultimately decided to roll back the mainnet to a prior block state (5,187,263) and gradually restore block production after verifying state consistency. The team acknowledged that some early-morning transactions processed during the restart sequence may not have completed correctly. Once operations resumed, the mainnet began accepting new blocks normally, though the disruption highlighted fundamental vulnerabilities in the proving systems that underpin the network’s validation layer.

Repeated Mainnet Disruptions Intensify Reliability Pressures

This outage represents Starknet’s second notable mainnet failure in a compressed timeframe. In September of last year, the network experienced a more severe incident following its Grinta upgrade, which resulted in two chain reorganizations and the reversal of a substantial transaction batch. That event raised initial concerns, but this most recent halt suggests that underlying architectural issues may persist despite previous remediation efforts.

The repeated interruptions create reputational challenges for Starknet, particularly as the network positions itself as a scalable alternative to Ethereum’s congested base layer. Zero-knowledge rollups theoretically offer faster throughput by batching computations off-chain and submitting proofs to Ethereum. However, the complexity of managing proving workflows has proven more challenging in practice than many anticipated. Community members and market participants are now demanding comprehensive technical post-mortems that clarify both the immediate causes and the systemic changes necessary to prevent future mainnet freezes.

Bitcoin Staking Integration Moves Forward Amid Stability Challenges

Despite the operational disruptions, Starknet has continued executing its 2025 development roadmap by introducing native Bitcoin staking capabilities on the layer-2 platform. Users can now deposit Bitcoin directly on Starknet’s mainnet and earn STRK token rewards through staking participation. This feature represents an attempt to bridge ecosystems and attract capital from the Bitcoin community to Starknet’s infrastructure.

The network’s technical team is simultaneously working to strengthen proving performance and implement additional safeguards within block production workflows. These upgrades are intended to reduce the frequency and severity of future mainnet disruptions. However, the recurring halts suggest that incremental improvements may require deeper architectural reconsideration rather than surface-level patches.

Starknet’s leadership has committed to publishing a detailed retrospective outlining the root causes of both recent mainnet incidents and the comprehensive recovery strategy. Market participants and institutional stakeholders are closely monitoring for these technical disclosures, as they will substantially influence confidence in Starknet’s ability to deliver reliable layer-2 scaling infrastructure throughout 2026.