StarkWare has integrated Nightfall, developed by EY, into Starknet to enable private institutional payments and DeFi activity on public Ethereum-aligned infrastructure.
The integration allows enterprises to verify transactions using zero-knowledge proofs without revealing underlying data, supporting private B2B and cross-border payments, confidential treasury management and tokenised asset transfers while retaining auditability.
Eli Ben-Sasson, StarkWare co-founder and CEO, said blockchains could give institutions “the equivalent of a private superhighway for stablecoins and tokenised deposits,” describing Nightfall on Starknet as a concrete step toward institutional-grade privacy on public rails.
StarkWare said institutions will also gain access to Ethereum DeFi services such as lending, swaps and yield strategies, with transactions private by default but allowing selective disclosure and compliance with Know Your Customer requirements.
The company framed the integration as a “major breakthrough” aimed at attracting banks and corporates that have been deterred by full onchain transparency and competitive risks, positioning Starknet as an open alternative to siloed or permissioned networks.
Starknet has grown into one of the larger zero-knowledge rollups with around $280 million in total value locked, largely driven by DeFi protocols and native applications.
However, the network experienced outages in 2025 linked to sequencer and infrastructure issues, prompting public reviews and reliability upgrades as it seeks to onboard more institutional capital.
At the time of reporting, Ethereum price was $1,973.64.