Starknet has been one of the first zero-knowledge rollups that scales Ethereum while maintaining its security guarantees. Built with Cairo, a powerful programming language designed for blockchain applications, Starknet enables developers to build high-performance applications with enhanced scalability and lower transaction costs.
The Challenge
When Starknet was preparing for mainnet launch, the ecosystem faced a critical developer experience challenge. While Ethereum developers had access to battle-tested smart contract libraries like OpenZeppelin's Solidity Contracts, Starknet's Cairo programming language lacked fundamental development infrastructure.
Without secure, audited, and easy-to-use contract primitives, developers would face several obstacles:
- Reinventing the Wheel: Every team would need to build basic functionality from scratch
- Security Risks: Custom implementations could introduce vulnerabilities
- Development Friction: Slow development cycles would hinder ecosystem growth
- Adoption Barriers: Developers might choose other chains with better tooling
For Starknet to succeed as a scaling solution, it needed a comprehensive smart contract library that would enable developers to build powerful applications with the same security and ease they enjoyed on Ethereum.
The Solution
Early Ecosystem Investment
In March 2022, even before Starknet's mainnet launch, OpenZeppelin released the first version of the OpenZeppelin Cairo Contracts Library. This early release allowed the Starknet community to familiarize themselves with secure development patterns ahead of mainnet, ensuring developers could build production-ready applications from day one.
Comprehensive Library Development
Over the following years, OpenZeppelin developed a full-featured, audited smart contract library specifically for Cairo developers, providing essential building blocks for secure application development:
Token Standards & DeFi Primitives: Core implementations including ERC20 tokens, ERC721 NFTs, ERC1155 multi-tokens, and advanced standards like ERC4626 tokenized vaults for yield-bearing assets.
Security & Access Management: Role-based access controls, account abstraction primitives, contract upgradeability patterns, emergency pause functionality, initialization guards, and anti-reentrancy protection.
Advanced Components: Cryptographic verification tools like Merkle Trees, token vesting mechanisms, multi-signature wallet functionality, and comprehensive governance frameworks for decentralized organizations.
Developer Utilities: Cairo-optimized cryptographic functions, development utilities, and extensive documentation to accelerate the development process.
All components were released as open source on GitHub with comprehensive documentation, making them easily accessible to the entire Starknet developer community.
The Results
Ecosystem Dominance
7 out of the top 10 DeFi protocols on Starknet are powered by OpenZeppelin Cairo Contracts, demonstrating the library's critical role in the ecosystem's success.
Massive TVL Protection
OpenZeppelin Cairo Contracts secured over $620 million in Total Value Locked at peak in April 2024. As of August 2025, OpenZeppelin contracts power 55% of the total Starknet TVL. Major protocols building on OpenZeppelin's foundation include:
- Nostra
- Spiko
- Ekubo
- Endur
- JediSwap
- 10KSwap
Perfect Security Record
Zero security incidents have occurred in protocols using OpenZeppelin Cairo Contracts since launch, demonstrating the library's robust security standards and thorough audit processes.
"Having OpenZeppelin's battle-tested contracts available from day one was crucial for Starknet's ecosystem growth. Developers could build with the same security confidence they had on Ethereum, which accelerated our entire DeFi landscape"
Developer Adoption
The library's comprehensive documentation and battle-tested components have enabled rapid development cycles, allowing teams to focus on innovation rather than rebuilding fundamental infrastructure.
OpenZeppelin's early investment in Starknet's developer ecosystem proved transformative. By providing secure, audited, and easy-to-use Cairo contracts before mainnet launch, OpenZeppelin enabled the rapid growth of Starknet's DeFi ecosystem. With over half of Starknet's TVL secured by OpenZeppelin contracts and a perfect security record, the Cairo Contracts library stands as the foundation of one of Ethereum's most successful Layer 2 ecosystems.
