Sorare’s Grand Leap: Trading the StarkEx Cloak for Solana’s Open Horizon

In a bold and decisive move, Sorare—the fantasy sports platform built on NFTs—has announced its migration from the Ethereum-derived Layer 2 solution, StarkEx, to the vibrant universe of Solana. This transition is not merely technical; it is a statement of intent, a repositioning of identity.

From October onward, Sorare will begin shifting ETH balances held on StarkEx toward Base (Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2), in a delicate first step. By the month’s end, all player cards—the heart of Sorare’s ecosystem—will be reborn as Solana-native NFTs, each retaining its unique attributes: scarcity, serial numbering, season identity, XP, and metadata. During this transformation, users will neither need to act nor to pay gas fees. The entire migration is being handled on Sorare’s side.

Even as cards transit to Solana, Sorare ensures continuity: gameplay, tournaments, and collection utilities remain intact. Cards withdrawn to Ethereum pre-migration will still function in gameplay, though they must be bridged back to Solana to regain trading capability on the platform.

Why this leap? Sorare speaks of it as more than an infrastructural change. Their vision is to tether NFTs to a wider, more fluid ecosystem. On Solana, cards can be verified, traded, and explored via wallets like Phantom or Backpack. Payment choice will expand: ETH will remain, SOL will enter, and other options may follow. The promise is of openness, flexibility, and synergy with the broader Web3 landscape.

Behind the scenes, speculation swirls that an eight-figure incentive—perhaps offered by Solana or its backers—played a role in the switch. But official communications remain focused on the philosophical: Sorare hopes to forge partnerships, unlock new gameplay modes, and possibly pave the way for its own token in the months ahead.

This isn’t the first migration for Sorare. After launching on Ethereum in 2019, the platform adopted StarkEx in mid-2021 to escape prohibitive gas costs. Its rapid valuation leap—$680 million in Series B funding, valuing it near $4.3 billion—was built on that scalability promise. Now, that promise evolves: Solana offers higher throughput, lower fees, deeper composability, and tighter integration with a thriving developer ecosystem.

The Web3 world is watching. NFT markets are once again waking, with global sales rising. In that context, Sorare’s move is more than symbolic—it may tip the scales for how digital sports collectibles marry mainstream fan culture with decentralized infrastructure.

Source: The Defiant