The zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) ecosystem has achieved a significant milestone, successfully transitioning from theoretical advancements to practical, real-time proving capabilities. After a year of intense development and a dedicated sprint, the community has crossed a critical finish line, laying the groundwork for the next phase: building robust, mainnet-grade zkEVM solutions. This achievement marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of scaling Ethereum, shifting the focus from raw performance to the paramount importance of security.
The journey began with a clear objective: to redefine the standard for zkEVM performance. In July 2025, a foundational "north-star definition" for real-time proving was published, outlining ambitious goals for the ecosystem. Nine months later, the collective efforts of developers and researchers have yielded remarkable results. Proving latency has been dramatically slashed, plummeting from an average of 16 minutes to a mere 16 seconds. This represents an order-of-magnitude improvement, making zkEVMs significantly more practical for real-world applications.
Beyond speed, the economic viability of zkEVMs has also seen a substantial uplift. Costs associated with generating proofs have collapsed by an estimated 45%, further democratizing access to advanced scaling solutions. Crucially, zkVMs are now capable of processing 99% of all Ethereum blocks within a 10-second window on target hardware. This widespread adoption and efficiency underscore the maturation of the technology and its readiness for broader integration into the Ethereum network.
While the major performance bottlenecks have been addressed by the dedicated zkEVM teams, the critical challenge of ensuring robust security remains at the forefront. The transition from a performance-focused sprint to a security-centric build phase signifies a strategic shift, acknowledging that for a technology handling potentially hundreds of billions of dollars, security is not a feature but a fundamental requirement.
The Imperative of 128-Bit Provable Security
A significant concern within the current zkEVM landscape, particularly for systems leveraging STARK-based constructions, is their reliance on unproven mathematical conjectures. These conjectures, while offering performance advantages, introduce inherent uncertainties regarding their long-term security guarantees. In recent months, the foundational underpinnings of STARK security have faced considerable scrutiny and theoretical challenges. Esteemed researchers have mathematically disproven several of these foundational conjectures, directly impacting the advertised security levels of various zkEVM implementations. What was once confidently stated as 100 bits of security might, in reality, be significantly lower, potentially falling to around 80 bits.
This erosion of theoretical security underscores the urgent need for a more rigorous and verifiable approach. The only tenable path forward, as articulated by leading figures in the cryptography community, is the adoption of "provable security." This paradigm shifts the focus from assumptions to demonstrable proofs of security. The widely accepted benchmark for cryptographic security, recommended by international standardization bodies such as NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) and validated by computational milestones, is 128 bits. This level of security is considered a robust defense against all known practical attacks for the foreseeable future.
For zkEVMs operating as Layer 1 solutions or as critical infrastructure for Layer 2 networks, achieving 128-bit provable security is not an academic exercise; it is an existential necessity. A soundness flaw in a zkEVM would have catastrophic consequences. Unlike other forms of technical debt, a compromised proof system allows attackers to forge virtually any transaction. This could manifest as the arbitrary minting of tokens, the illicit rewriting of blockchain state, or the direct theft of user funds. For a system tasked with securing the vast economic value of the Ethereum ecosystem, any compromise in security margins is an unacceptable risk.
Navigating the Security Landscape: Three Key Milestones
Recognizing the delicate balance between security and efficiency, the zkEVM development community is embarking on a structured approach to address these challenges. Security and proof size are both critical, yet often in tension. Enhanced security measures frequently lead to larger proof sizes, which in turn can strain the capacity of Ethereum’s peer-to-peer network to propagate and verify them in a timely manner. To navigate this complex terrain, three distinct milestones have been established, providing a roadmap for achieving mainnet-grade security.
Milestone 1: Soundcalc Integration (Deadline: End of February 2026)
To establish a consistent and standardized method for measuring cryptographic security, the development of soundcalc has been a crucial initiative. This open-source tool, hosted on GitHub, is designed to estimate the security of zkVMs based on the latest cryptographic security bounds and the specific parameters of their proof systems. soundcalc is envisioned as a living document, continuously updated to incorporate cutting-edge research and the analysis of known cryptographic attacks.
The objective by the end of February 2026 is for all participating zkEVM teams to integrate their proof system components and all associated circuits into soundcalc. This integration will provide a common, objective framework for security assessments, enabling a unified understanding of the security posture across different zkEVM implementations. Early examples of such integrations, demonstrating the process of incorporating new proof systems into the tool, can be found in the soundcalc GitHub repository, specifically in issues like #1 and pull requests like #2. This milestone aims to move beyond subjective claims of security towards quantifiable, auditable metrics.
Milestone 2: Glamsterdam (Deadline: End of May 2026)
While the specific technical details of "Glamsterdam" are yet to be fully elucidated in public documentation, its placement as the second milestone suggests a phase focused on further refining and solidifying the security architectures. This phase likely involves deeper integration testing, stress-testing of cryptographic primitives under various conditions, and potentially the exploration of novel cryptographic techniques to enhance both security and efficiency. The deadline of May 2026 indicates a focused effort over several months to achieve specific security objectives within this phase.
Milestone 3: H-star (Deadline: End of 2026)
The final milestone, "H-star," is targeted for completion by the end of 2026. This phase is expected to represent the culmination of the security-focused development efforts, aiming for a state where zkEVM architectures are sufficiently stable and secure for widespread mainnet deployment. This timeframe is particularly significant as it aligns with the broader strategic goal of establishing a foundation for formally verified zkEVMs. By the time H-star is achieved, the proof system layer is anticipated to have largely "settled." This does not imply a complete cessation of innovation, but rather a stabilization of core components and architectures, making them amenable to formal verification, finalized security proofs, and the development of precise specifications that accurately reflect deployed code.
The successful achievement of these milestones hinges on recent advancements in cryptography and engineering. Compact polynomial commitment schemes, such as the recently proposed WHIR (What If Recursive Hashing) scheme detailed in an eprint paper, offer significant improvements in proof size efficiency. Techniques like JaggedPCS (Piecewise Polynomial Commitment Scheme) further enhance these capabilities. Moreover, the judicious application of "grinding" techniques, a concept with roots in cryptographic proof construction, alongside a well-structured recursion topology, are identified as key enablers for a viable path forward.
Recursion, in particular, warrants special attention. Modern zkEVMs often involve intricate architectures where numerous circuits are composed using recursion in highly customized ways, interspersed with significant "glue code." Each zkEVM team employs distinct approaches to this recursive composition. Therefore, thoroughly documenting these complex architectures and rigorously proving their soundness is paramount to ensuring the overall security of the entire zkEVM system.
The Strategic Trajectory: Building a Foundation for Secure L1 zkEVMs
The strategic decision to prioritize and solidify zkEVM security now is driven by a clear vision for the future of Ethereum scaling. Securing a rapidly evolving target presents inherent difficulties. However, once zkEVM teams achieve the outlined security milestones and their underlying architectures begin to stabilize, the significant investments being made in formal verification can truly come to fruition. Projects like verified-zkevm.org are dedicated to this effort, aiming to provide an irrefutable layer of assurance.
The H-star milestone is strategically positioned to enable this. By its completion, the expectation is that the proof system layer will have achieved a sufficient degree of stability. This stability will not signify a permanent freeze on innovation but rather a mature phase where core components and architectural designs are robust enough for comprehensive formal verification. This will allow for the finalization of rigorous security proofs and the creation of precise, deployable specifications that accurately mirror the behavior of the implemented code.
This robust foundation is precisely what is required to confidently deploy zkEVMs as secure Layer 1 solutions or as foundational elements for a secure and scalable Ethereum ecosystem. The transition from a performance sprint to a security-focused build phase is not merely an operational shift; it represents a maturation of the zkEVM space, acknowledging that the true test of this technology lies not only in its speed but, more importantly, in its unassailable security.
Building the Foundations: A Collective Endeavor
A year ago, the central question surrounding zkEVMs was whether they could achieve sufficient proving speed to be practical. That question has been definitively answered with the real-time proving breakthrough. The current and more critical question is whether zkEVMs can provide an adequate level of soundness to be trusted with the immense value and complex operations of the Ethereum network. The collective efforts and the structured approach with the defined milestones indicate a strong confidence within the community that this question will also be answered affirmatively.
On the part of the core development teams, the focus has shifted from optimizing raw performance to building and fortifying the underlying security guarantees. This involves meticulous attention to cryptographic primitives, the formal verification of complex recursive compositions, and the development of standardized tools like soundcalc to ensure consistent and auditable security assessments.
The performance sprint that propelled zkEVMs into the realm of real-time proving is now complete. The focus has strategically and necessarily shifted to strengthening the foundations of these groundbreaking technologies, ensuring that they are not only fast and efficient but, above all, secure and trustworthy for the future of Ethereum. This concerted effort is poised to unlock the full potential of zero-knowledge proofs for scaling blockchain technology.
