Analyzing Vitalik’s Strategic Ambition to Replace EVM with RISC-V in the Reconstruction of Ethereum’s Execution Layer

Ethereum is Attempting to Build Not Just a More Efficient Execution Layer, But a Modular Architecture Compatible with Multiple Virtual Machines

(Background: EVM Should Step Aside! Vitalik Proposes to Replace EVM with RISC-V, ZK Proofs Can Enhance Performance by Over a Hundred Times)

(Context: Ethereum Foundation Quells Concerns: Vitalik’s “EVM Replacement Proposal” Has Significant Influence! But Ultimately, the Community Decides)

Some friends have asked me how I view @VitalikButerin’s radical proposal to replace Ethereum’s virtual machine EVM bytecode with the open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture. Essentially, Ethereum is brewing a deep technological transformation led by ZK technology. Let me clarify the strategic logic behind it:

1. Firstly, Vitalik’s suggestion to replace EVM with RISC-V is not particularly novel. He hinted at a similar idea when proposing the Rollup-Centric scaling strategy: allowing eligible Layer 2 solutions to become the execution layer of the mainnet, while EVM transitions from the protocol layer to the “in-house” Rollup execution client functionality layer, becoming one of many AltVMs. The key to this transformation lies in RISC-V serving as a lower-level, more universal instruction set architecture, which can provide a unified “hardware” foundation for zkVM, enabling various execution environments to perform efficiently within the same framework. This architectural change must be built on the successful SNARK deployment at the foundational level of Ethereum, because only when ZK technology can be applied on a large scale to state verification can this modular execution layer architecture enhance efficiency while ensuring security.
2. Honestly, Ethereum’s strategic adjustment may seem like a “burning bridges and remaking” effort at first glance, but a deeper analysis reveals that the substitutability of the execution layer is a necessary path for established consensus-driven blockchains like Ethereum. Faced with the technological impact of emerging blockchains like Solana and Sui, which boast extreme TPS, as well as the market diversion caused by numerous EVM-compatible chains, Ethereum has chosen to proactively strike back rather than passively endure. Purely on a technical comparison basis, Ethereum’s TPS indeed struggles to compete with new blockchains like Solana and Sui. However, in this dilemma, Ethereum has consistently upheld the two core values of security and decentralization while maintaining unparalleled ecological prosperity and developer community.
3. If Ethereum attempts to enhance execution layer efficiency using the RISC-V open-source instruction set architecture, particularly with an expected performance leap of 50-100 times in ZK proofs, this strategy of iterating the execution layer without sacrificing its foundation retains Ethereum’s core advantages while directly addressing its main shortcomings. Why not?
4. However, amidst the excitement for this new proposal, it is essential to understand that the transition from EVM to RISC-V is by no means a straightforward engineering task. From a technical implementation perspective, this transformation will likely only advance in full after the large-scale deployment of ZK-SNARKs technology. Compared to the significant upgrades at Ethereum’s core level over the past few years (such as from PoW to PoS for the consensus layer), ideally, the entire process requires rigorous design, extensive testing, and robust community support, which is estimated to take at least a 2-3 year cycle. Nevertheless, Vitalik emphasized backward compatibility in his proposal. Existing EVM contracts may continue to exist through RISC-V interpreters or parallel support mechanisms, which is crucial for alleviating the transition costs for developers and users. This gradual change strategy is also a solid iterative style that Ethereum, as a secure and decentralized old blockchain, must possess.
5. In my view, Vitalik’s proposal to replace EVM with RISC-V is not just a simple technical architecture adjustment, but a proactive innovative strategy for Ethereum in response to competition from high-performance blockchains. This proposal is closely related to the upgrades such as Verge and Purge in Ethereum’s roadmap, all fundamentally revolving around the underlying SNARKs deployment, with the goal of establishing a more efficient and flexible execution environment to support diverse future application scenarios. Previously, @drakefjustin revealed that the Ethereum Foundation would invest tens of millions of dollars into the zkVMs project. Undoubtedly, zkVM is indeed one of Ethereum’s core narratives for the future. Ethereum is attempting to build not just a more efficient execution layer, but a modular architecture compatible with various virtual machines. This discussion about replacing EVM with RISC-V may just be the beginning.