For those watching the evolution of Layer 2 networks, this marks a major milestone. Starknet, developed by StarkWare, has been at the forefront of zk-Rollup technology, offering faster transactions and lower fees on Ethereum without compromising security. But until now, full decentralization was still a vision — today, that vision takes its first major step toward reality.

So what does Stage 1 Decentralization mean?

In simple terms: control is no longer centralized. Governance decisions — from protocol upgrades to fee structures — are now moving into the hands of the community. Starknet’s sequencer,