Starknet, a zero-knowledge rollup, recently announced that it has set a new record for transactions per second (TPS) among Ethereum layer-2 networks. They achieved a maximum TPS of 127.5 over the past 24 hours.

This milestone happened during a gaming stress test, described as a "dress rehearsal for mass use via L2s." A Starknet spokesperson shared that this achievement surpassed Coinbase's layer-2 network, Base, which previously held the record with a TPS of 79.92, according to L2Beat. Coinbase has not yet responded to requests for comment.

Starknet is recognized as one of the leading teams building layer-2 networks on Ethereum. They’re known for their advanced cryptography and technical features. However, they currently rank lower than some competitors in terms of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. As of now, Starknet’s total value locked (TVL) stands at $235.7 million, according to DeFi Llama. This is significantly less than Base’s $2.64 billion and Arbitrum’s $2.44 billion.

Layer-2 projects are competing on several important metrics, such as speed, interoperability, and decentralization. The recent stress test of Starknet was a joint effort involving StarkWare, game development company Cartridge, and the Starknet Foundation.

During the test, they recorded around 11 million daily transactions, with a peak TPS of 857. The stress test featured a game called "flippyflop," developed by Cartridge. In this game, users competed against bots to check tiles on a grid. The bots tried to mess with the players' efforts by randomly unchecking tiles, creating a fun theme of "human vs. machine." The high volume of simple transactions generated during this game was designed to rigorously test Starknet’s TPS capabilities.

It’s important to note that Starknet's TPS test might not provide a direct comparison to other networks. In different scenarios, especially with zero-knowledge provers, there have been specific efforts to conduct tests in controlled environments. Additionally, there are often trade-offs to consider, like speed versus decentralization.