According to CoinDesk, StarkWare, the developer firm behind layer-2 network Starknet, announced the development of a new cryptographic prover called Stwo at ETHDenver. A prover is a key component for layer-2 networks, as they generate proofs that are posted to the base layer blockchain, a crucial process in linking the networks and sharing security. A faster prover should lower transaction processing costs, reduce fees for users, and speed up transactions, according to the StarkWare team.

In August, StarkWare open-sourced its existing prover, known as Stone. The new prover, Stwo, is named as a portmanteau of Stone and Two, and anyone will be able to run it and examine its codebase. Starknet appchains currently using Stone will eventually benefit from the Stwo prover, according to StarkWare. This news follows StarkWare and Polygon's announcement of Circle STARKS, a new type of cryptographic proof designed to make transactions faster and cheaper for zero-knowledge rollups.

Oren Katz, COO of StarkWare, stated that Circle STARKS will be implemented in Stwo, helping to 'supercharge Ethereum by more efficiently generating proofs.' Katz expressed excitement that the new Circle STARK protocol, announced as a theoretical breakthrough just a week ago, is already being developed into a fast prover.