On April 20, 2025, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin presented a proposal that could become one of the most significant changes in blockchain architecture. He suggests replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V — a standard instruction set architecture used in modern processors.
This is reported by Finway
Buterin believes that this idea could significantly accelerate zero-knowledge proof processing; however, it has sparked lively discussions regarding its impact on performance, the ecosystem, and engineering complexity. According to him, the main goal is to eliminate a critical bottleneck in layer one solutions that hinders scalability and increases verification costs, especially in the context of zero-knowledge technology.
The Incrypted team conducted research on the proposed idea and analyzed the reactions of Ethereum developers and users to the potential restructuring of the network. The proposal is ambitious and has the potential to set a precedent for a fundamental overhaul of Ethereum to enhance the efficiency of the execution environment.