Chain Identity and Addressing Standards

Chain Identity and Addressing Standards define how Starknet is identified and how accounts and assets on Starknet are referenced in multi-chain contexts. The primary specifications are the Chain-Agnostic Improvement Proposals (CAIPs), which provide a namespace and syntax for chain references (CAIP-2), account identifiers (CAIP-10), and asset type and chain references (CAIP-19). For Starknet, the canonical CAIP-2 chain identifier is starknet:SN_MAIN for mainnet and starknet:SN_SEPOLIA for the testnet, establishing a machine-readable identity that wallet providers, block explorers, and cross-chain protocols use to disambiguate Starknet from other networks.

These standards are operationally critical for WalletConnect integrators and multi-chain wallet providers who must construct transaction requests, display account addresses, and manage session permissions across Ethereum, Solana, Starknet, and other chains. A Starknet account expressed as a CAIP-10 identifier follows the format starknet:SN_MAIN:<starknet_address>, allowing wallets to namespace accounts correctly in UIs and preventing cross-chain replay or misdirected transactions. Similarly, CAIP-19 enables standardized references to assets like starknet:SN_MAIN/slip44:60 for ETH on Starknet, which is essential for dApps that query balances or initiate transfers across multiple chains.

Builders integrating Starknet into multi-chain applications should verify that their wallet SDK, RPC provider, and indexing pipeline correctly resolve CAIP-2 and CAIP-10 identifiers. Incorrect chain identity handling is a common source of integration bugs, including wrong-network transaction submissions and broken asset display. Chainscore Labs can assist teams with a protocol impact assessment and integration review to ensure that Starknet's chain identity and addressing standards are correctly implemented across wallet interfaces, cross-chain messaging modules, and asset management systems.

Starknet's native addressing uses 0x-prefixed hex strings for contract addresses and a separate model for account contracts, but multi-chain wallets, bridges, and dApps need a unified way to reference Starknet accounts and assets alongside those on Ethereum, Solana, or other networks. The Chain-Agnostic Improvement Proposals (CAIPs) maintained by the Chain Agnostic Standards Alliance (CASA) provide this layer. For Starknet, the critical standards are CAIP-2 (blockchain identifier), CAIP-10 (account ID), and CAIP-19 (asset type and chain reference). These standards do not change Starknet's protocol rules; they define how external systems namespace and resolve Starknet entities to prevent cross-chain confusion, such as mistaking a Starknet address for an Ethereum address or routing a transaction to the wrong network.

The operational mechanism relies on deterministic string construction. A CAIP-2 chain ID for Starknet mainnet is the string starknet:SN_MAIN, combining the starknet namespace with the canonical network reference. A CAIP-10 account ID extends this to starknet:SN_MAIN:0xabc...def, embedding the hex-encoded contract address. For assets, CAIP-19 constructs identifiers like starknet:SN_MAIN/slip44:60 to reference the native ETH token, using the SLIP-44 coin type as the asset namespace. WalletConnect v2 sessions, multi-chain transaction builders, and chain-aware SDKs parse these strings to populate network selectors, validate destination addresses, and construct asset lists. If an integrator hardcodes an incorrect chain reference—for example, using a deprecated testnet identifier or confusing SN_MAIN with SN_SEPOLIA—the failure mode is not a protocol rejection but a UI-level or routing error that can lead to lost user funds or broken transaction flows.

For builders and operators, the primary integration surface is the WalletConnect client initialization and the chain registry used by wallet SDKs. When adding Starknet support, teams must register the exact CAIP-2 identifier, map it to the correct RPC endpoint and block explorer, and ensure that CAIP-10 account IDs are generated using Starknet's canonical hex address format without checksumming (unlike Ethereum's EIP-55). Exchanges and custodians integrating Starknet deposit and withdrawal flows should validate that their address-generation logic produces CAIP-10-compatible identifiers to avoid interoperability issues with wallet UIs that rely on these standards. Chainscore Labs can review multi-chain integration code, audit CAIP identifier construction, and assess the risk of chain-confusion attacks in cross-chain messaging or asset bridging implementations.