tl;dr
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V, an open-source instruction set architecture, to improve smart contract execution efficiency and address scalability bottlenecks. This change aims to enhance block production competitiveness and...
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed a major upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain by replacing the current Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V, an open-source instruction set architecture. This shift aims to drastically improve the efficiency and scalability of smart contract execution, addressing long-standing bottlenecks in block production and zero-knowledge (ZK) proof efficiency.
The transition to RISC-V is expected to enhance smart contract performance by potentially achieving up to 100x efficiency gains in zero-knowledge proof execution. Importantly, this upgrade will maintain backward compatibility, allowing existing EVM-based contracts to continue operating alongside new RISC-V contracts. Developers can still write smart contracts in familiar languages like Solidity and Vyper, which would then be compiled to the RISC-V architecture.
Buterin outlined several implementation strategies:
1. Native support for both EVM and RISC-V contracts simultaneously.
2. Wrapping EVM contracts via a RISC-V interpreter to ease transition.
3. Formally integrating interpreters within the Ethereum protocol, allowing standardized support for virtual machines in the future.
This initiative complements Ethereum’s ongoing modularity and scalability goals, aligning with other critical upgrades such as the Beam Chain consensus redesign, which targets faster block times and enhanced security, expected to commence development around 2026. Additionally, the upcoming Pectra upgrade aims to bolster privacy-preserving features on the network.
Despite these technical ambitions, Ethereum’s market performance has been challenging in 2024. The price of ETH has declined over 50% this year, trading near lows not seen since March 2023. However, a modest recovery has been observed recently, with ETH rising about 6.1% over the last two weeks and trading around $1,639 at the time of reporting.
Vitalik Buterin’s RISC-V proposal represents one of the most ambitious shifts in Ethereum’s execution layer, potentially revolutionizing smart contract execution while preserving the network’s core functionality and compatibility. As Ethereum continues to evolve, this bold move could redefine scalability and efficiency standards within the blockchain ecosystem.