Ethereum Foundation Maps Path To zkEVM Proofs On Mainnet L1
The Ethereum Foundation has outlined a detailed plan to enable Ethereum's mainnet (L1) to validate blocks using zkEVM proofs, reducing the need for validators to re-execute every transaction. The proposal, shared by EF Co-Executive Director Tomasz K. Stańczak, involves engineering work across execution and consensus clients, new proving infrastructure, and security processes.
Key milestones include creating a standardized "ExecutionWitness" data structure per block, developing a zkEVM guest program for stateless validation, and updating consensus clients to verify zk proofs during block validation. The plan also emphasizes operational readiness, including proof generation integration, GPU testing, benchmarking, and security measures like reproducible builds and formal threat models.
A major dependency is ePBS (enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation), which would extend proof generation time from 1–2 seconds to 6–9 seconds, and is targeted for deployment in mid-2026. If implemented, this would make proof-based validation a practical option on L1, though proving times and operational complexity remain key challenges.
bitcoinist01/16 23:01
