The Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution Starknet has passed a governance vote, approving the launch of staking functionality within its network and paying rewards to stakers based on the total number of staked tokens.

Earlier today, a governance proposal "SNIP 18" submitted by StarkWare core developers received approval from the majority of STRK token holders, but only 0.08% of eligible voters holding Starknet's native token STRK participated in the vote. With the approval of the proposal, Starknet's token staking function may soon be launched on the test network and officially launched on the mainnet in the fourth quarter of this year.

Starknet will allow token holders holding at least 20000 STRKs to become stakers, while others can entrust them. This vote also approved a coinage mechanism aimed at balancing pledger rewards with inflation expectations. In addition, the pledger will face a 21 day lock up period before withdrawing funds.

StarkWare stated that the pledge governance vote is a step towards further decentralization of infrastructure. StarkWare CEO Eli Ben Sasson stated:

This is a historic milestone for Starknet towards complete decentralization. As one of the first Layer 2 to offer this opportunity to token holders, we are gradually moving towards a network that is fully operated and managed by the community

Looking ahead, the network plan will introduce more governance functions and pledger responsibilities in stages, including the potential role of pledgers in decentralized network sorting and provers.