Deconstructing Vitalik's Strategic Ambition to Reconstruct the Ethereum Execution Layer with RISC-V

Author: Haotian

A friend asked me how I view Vitalik Buterin's radical proposal to replace the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) bytecode with an open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture. Essentially, Ethereum is brewing a deep technological transformation led by ZK technology. Let me outline the strategic logic behind it:

1) First of all, Vitalik's suggestion to replace the EVM with RISC-V is not a new idea. He hinted at a similar concept when proposing the Rollup-Centric scaling strategy: allowing eligible layer 2s to become the execution layer of the mainnet, while the EVM is downgraded from the protocol layer to an "in-house" Rollup execution client function layer, becoming one of many AltVMs.

The key to implementing this transition lies in RISC-V as a more fundamental and general instruction set architecture, which can provide a unified "hardware" foundation for zkVM, enabling various execution environments to run efficiently within the same framework. This architectural transformation must be built on the foundation of Ethereum completing the underlying SNARKs deployment, as only when ZK technology can be widely applied to state validation can this modular execution layer architecture achieve efficiency improvements while ensuring security.

2) To be honest, Ethereum's strategic adjustment may seem like a "burning the boats and starting over" bold move at first glance, but a deeper analysis reveals that the substitutability of the execution layer is indeed an inevitable path for established strong consensus public chains like Ethereum. Faced with the technological impact of emerging public chains like Solana and Sui, which boast extreme TPS, as well as the market diversion caused by numerous EVM-compatible chains, Ethereum chooses to take the initiative rather than passively endure attacks.

Because, in pure technical comparisons, Ethereum's TPS indeed struggles to compete with new public chains like Solana and Sui. However, in the face of the trilemma, Ethereum has always adhered to the two core values of security and decentralization while maintaining an unmatched ecological prosperity and developer community.

If Ethereum attempts to use the open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture to enhance the efficiency of the execution layer, especially with expectations of achieving a 50-100 times performance leap 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?

3) However, while we cheer for the excitement of the new proposal, we must understand that the transition from EVM to RISC-V is by no means a straightforward project. From the perspective of technical implementation, this transformation will likely need to wait until the large-scale deployment of ZK-SNARKs technology before it can be fully advanced.

Compared to the significant upgrades in Ethereum's core layer over the past few years (such as the upgrade from PoW to PoS in the consensus layer), ideally, the entire process requires rigorous design, extensive testing, and strong community support, which is estimated to take at least 2-3 years.

However, Vitalik emphasized backward compatibility in the proposal, suggesting that existing EVM contracts may continue to exist through a RISC-V interpreter or parallel support mechanisms, which is crucial for reducing the transition costs for developers and users. This gradual transformation strategy is also a robust strategic iterative style that Ethereum, as a secure and decentralized old public chain, must possess.

In my view, Vitalik's proposal to replace EVM with RISC-V is not just a simple technical architecture adjustment, but an active response and innovative strategy for Ethereum in the face of competition from high-performance public chains. This proposal is closely related to upgrades like Verge and Purge in Ethereum's roadmap, 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 in zkVMs projects. Undoubtedly, zkVM is indeed one of the core narratives for Ethereum's future. Ethereum is attempting to build not just a more efficient execution layer, but a modular architecture that can accommodate various virtual machines. The discussion of replacing EVM with RISC-V may just be the beginning.