StarkNet Mainnet Project: My Interactive Adventure

I've been diving into StarkNet mainnet projects recently and let me tell you - it's not for the faint of wallet! This isn't some testnet playground - we're talking real money here. But damn, the potential is exciting.

StarkNet has raised a whopping $282.5 million - double what Arbitrum got. With heavyweight backers like Ethereum Foundation, Paradigm, and Sequoia, I'm betting this ecosystem has legs.

Getting Started

Wallets

First, I needed a wallet. I went with Argent X but Braavos works too. Both Chrome extensions, both decent enough for what we're doing here.

Bridging Assets

I bridged some ETH using StarkGate (starkgate.starknet.io). Connected my MetaMask and Argent X, then sent some ETH over. The process took about 15 minutes - not terrible but not instant either.

Pro tip: Check gas fees at txstreet.com/d/gas before bridging! I got burned once not doing this.

Orbiter Finance and Layerswap are alternatives I've used with lower fees, but sometimes the convenience of StarkGate is worth the extra cost.

Building My StarkNet Identity

Creating a StarkNet ID felt oddly satisfying. Went to app.starknet.id, connected my wallet, found an available name, and paid for a year. The transaction took forever (about 15 minutes) but now I've got my on-chain identity.

DeFi Playground

10kSwap

This was my first StarkNet DeFi experience. Added 0.1 USDC to a liquidity pool just to get my feet wet. Gas fees were around 1.5 USD - not cheap, not terrible.

MySwap & JediSwap

I did similar trades on both platforms - swapped some ETH, added some liquidity. I'm waiting two weeks before pulling half out. JediSwap's Zap feature is pretty slick for contributing to pools.

NFT Markets

The NFT scene on StarkNet is still developing. I tried both MintSquare and Aspect - bought a cheap NFT for about $0.1, made some bids, and even created and listed my own NFT.

All in, this entire adventure cost me about 35 USD in gas fees. Not exactly pennies, but reasonable for establishing a presence across multiple StarkNet platforms.

I'll be doing 1-2 trades every couple weeks to maintain activity. The ecosystem is still young and clunky in places, but the potential for growth is massive. If they solve the UX issues, this could be huge.

Check starknet-ecosystem.com for more projects worth exploring. The tech is solid, but the interfaces need work.