TL;DR
- Starknet opened its privacy stack to external developers with the launch of the Privacy SDK and the Privacy Wallet API.
- STRK20 allows any ERC-20 token to operate with encrypted balances and private transfers verified through ZK-STARK proofs on mainnet.
- Teams from avnu, Troves, ForgeYields and Ekubo are already building features on top of this privacy infrastructure.
Starknet opens its financial privacy infrastructure to the entire developer community with the launch of the Privacy SDK and the Privacy Wallet API, two tools that allow developers to integrate privacy capabilities into wallets and decentralized applications without needing to build the infrastructure from scratch.
The foundation of its architecture is STRK20, a layer already running on mainnet that allows any ERC-20 token to exist privately through encrypted balances and transfers that reveal neither sender, recipient nor amounts.
If you are a builder, it's time to Push to Private on Starknet. The SDK and Wallet API for Starknet's privacy stack are live.
Shielded balances and private DeFi have already been running on mainnet; now any team can build on top of it.
Privacy that works for crypto, built for… pic.twitter.com/3JedxPAO9k
— Starknet (Privacy Arc) (@Starknet) July 15, 2026
Starknet does not frame privacy as an ideological stance, but as practical functionality. Most privacy products fail for specific reasons: they are slow, expensive, isolated from market liquidity or difficult to integrate. STRK20 operates directly on the assets, wallets and applications users already rely on, avoiding the common problem of bootstrapping liquidity or forcing adoption of separate wallets.
The Infrastructure Behind Starknet
The core mechanism is a pool that does not function as a mixer. When a user deposits an ERC-20, the balance is recorded as an encrypted note, equivalent to a UTXO. Each private transfer generates a ZK-STARK proof verified on-chain that confirms the notes are valid, have not been previously spent and that value is preserved, without exposing any data about the parties involved. What remains visible is the deposit and the withdrawal; what happens inside the pool does not.
Developers have two routes to access the system. The Privacy SDK, published under the Apache 2.0 license, is designed for wallets and advanced integrators that want to directly manage viewing keys, proof generation and note administration.
The Privacy Wallet API, in its specification version 0.10.3, is the recommended option for most dapps: through starknet.js, the application delegates to the user’s wallet the entire proof and note management process, without accessing viewing keys at any point.
Projects That Are Already Built on Starknet
For more complex DeFi flows, anonymizer contracts allow operations such as swaps, loans or staking to be executed atomically within a single private transaction. If any step fails, the entire operation reverts and funds return to the pool. Starknet projects finalizations below five seconds and transactions at under $0.20 at scale.
Among the projects already building on this infrastructure are avnu, as a routing layer for private assets; Troves, working on automated yield strategies; ForgeYields, focused on institutional vaults with undisclosed on-chain positions; and Endur, the network’s liquid staking layer, which includes support for tokens such as xstrkBTC. Also under development on the stack are Ready, Xverse, Polyhedge, Ekubo, Vesu and Cartridge, among others.
