Starknet, a ZK-Rollup solution aimed at scaling decentralized applications, released its 2024 roadmap today, detailing plans to increase throughput and lower transaction fees on the Ethereum Layer 2 network.

A significant update is the introduction of parallel execution in v0.13.2, expected in Q2 this year. Instead of Starknet’s sequencer processing transactions one by one, parallel execution will enable simultaneous processing of multiple transactions.

"Parallel execution is like multitasking for rollups, allowing the sequencer to handle many transactions at once," said Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO of StarkWare and board member of the Starknet Foundation, in a statement to The Block. "This will alleviate a bottleneck, ensuring faster and more efficient transaction flow, akin to reducing congestion at a subway station by opening more entrances."

Starknet recently integrated support for EIP-4844 or proto-danksharding following Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade. Consequently, Argent, a major wallet provider on the network, reported a significant drop in average swap fees on Starknet, from over $6.80 to $0.04.

Additional plans in Starknet’s roadmap include integrating Cairo Native into the Starknet sequencer in v0.13.3, scheduled for Q3. This collaboration with blockchain research firm Nethermind will enable the sequencer to run directly on standard hardware, speeding up transaction processing, reducing latency, and improving throughput.

In Q4, Starknet’s v0.14.0 aims to further cut fees through three main strategies: introducing volition for hybrid data storage, implementing "applicative recursion" to streamline data storage evidence, and exploring data availability compression to reduce Starknet’s data footprint on Ethereum.