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<em><b>KEY FACTS</b>: Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, has proposed replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine’s (EVM) contract language with the RISC-V instruction set architecture to address scalability bottlenecks. The shift aims to enhance Ethereum’s execution layer, potentially achieving up to 100x efficiency gains in zero-knowledge proof processing, improving transaction speeds, and supporting competitive block production. The adoption of the open-standard RISC-V on Ethereum could streamline its smart contract ecosystem and boost layer-2 scaling solutions. However, the transition would require significant changes to the codebase and developer tools.</em>


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![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/uyobong/Eo43r1zUW2pUGjGAnPg3URyQv3vqYYzcRrswna4zZkFeozZy6tgGjpLYpHQGtx6CndE.png)
<em>Source: Ethereum</em>

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# Vitalik Buterin Proposes Replacing Ethereum’s Virtual Machine with RISC-V Architecture

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine’s (EVM) current contract language with the RISC-V instruction set architecture. This proposed shift was announced on April 20, 2025, in a blog post, and it aims to address long-standing bottlenecks in Ethereum’s execution layer, promising to enhance the network’s speed, efficiency, and scalability. The proposal, which has sparked widespread discussion within the cryptocurrency community, could become a significant development in Ethereum’s ongoing evolution as a leading blockchain platform.

> This post proposes a radical idea for the future of the Ethereum execution layer, one that is equally as ambitious as the beam chain effort is for the consensus layer. It aims to greatly improve the efficiency of the Ethereum execution layer, resolving one of the primary scaling bottlenecks, and can also greatly improve the execution layer’s simplicity - in fact, it is perhaps the only way to do so.
The idea: replace the EVM with RISC-V as the virtual machine language that smart contracts are written in.
[Source](https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/long-term-l1-execution-layer-proposal-replace-the-evm-with-risc-v/23617)


Ethereum, the world’s second-largest blockchain by market capitalization, has long been a cornerstone of decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and smart contract applications. However, as the network has grown, so too have the challenges of scaling it to meet global demand. Buterin’s proposal comes when Ethereum faces increasing pressure to maintain its competitive edge against newer, faster blockchains.

In his April 20 announcement, Buterin outlined several critical bottlenecks hindering Ethereum’s long-term scalability. These include stable data availability sampling, ensuring competitive block production, and improving the efficiency of zero-knowledge (ZK) EVM proving. The EVM, which serves as the runtime environment for Ethereum’s smart contracts, has been a core component of the network since its inception in 2015. However, its current architecture is increasingly seen as a limiting factor in achieving the performance needed for Ethereum’s ambitious roadmap.



Buterin argues that adopting RISC-V, an open-standard instruction set architecture, could address these issues by streamlining the execution layer. Unlike the EVM’s bespoke contract language, RISC-V is a modular and flexible architecture widely used in modern computing, from microcontrollers to high-performance processors. By transitioning to RISC-V, Ethereum could leverage its simplicity and efficiency to boost transaction processing speeds and reduce computational overhead.


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![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/uyobong/23xAnaejcxDDYdEg144WwNW8VCr7AkbuqNNJQbtdRa6Yq3ofakuQDcyVk2MwVicheQcKB.png)
<em>Buterin provides numbers suggesting that implementing the proposal could lead to efficiency gains of 100x. Source: Vitalik Buterin</em>

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One of the most striking claims in Buterin’s proposal is the potential for efficiency gains of up to 100x. According to Buterin, implementing RISC-V in Ethereum’s smart contracts could dramatically improve the performance of zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptographic technique critical to Ethereum’s layer-2 scaling solutions. Zero-knowledge proofs enable complex computations to be verified without revealing underlying data, making them essential for privacy-preserving applications and scalable rollups.

Buterin’s projections suggest that RISC-V’s lightweight design could reduce the computational resources required for ZK proving, allowing Ethereum to process transactions more quickly and cost-effectively. This efficiency would also help maintain competitive block production markets, ensuring that smaller validators can continue to participate in the network without being priced out by high computational costs. Buterin wrote in his proposal. 

> “By adopting RISC-V, we can make Ethereum’s execution layer not only faster but also more accessible,”...“This is about building a network that can scale sustainably while staying true to our decentralized ethos.”


Ethereum’s scalability challenges have been a focal point of its development for years. The network’s transition to proof-of-stake with the 2022 Merge was a significant milestone, reducing energy consumption and laying the groundwork for future upgrades. However, achieving the transaction throughput needed to support millions of users remains a work in progress.

Buterin’s RISC-V proposal aligns with Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap, which emphasizes layer-2 solutions like Optimism and Arbitrum to handle most transactions off-chain while relying on Ethereum’s layer-1 for security and finality. By optimizing the EVM’s execution layer, RISC-V could enhance the interoperability and performance of these layer-2 networks, making it easier for users to move assets across chains without incurring high fees or delays.

Posts on X reflect the crypto community’s excitement about the proposal, with some users comparing it to Nervos Network’s CKB-VM, which already uses a RISC-V-based virtual machine. “CKB led the way with RISC-V based VM,” wrote one user, suggesting that Ethereum’s adoption of RISC-V could validate similar approaches in other blockchains. Another user noted that the move could help Ethereum regain investor confidence amid recent price volatility for Ether (ETH).


While Buterin’s proposal has generated significant buzz, implementing RISC-V in Ethereum’s execution layer is no small feat. Transitioning from the EVM’s current architecture would require extensive changes to Ethereum’s codebase, developer tools, and smart contract ecosystem. Developers who have built applications on the EVM would need to adapt to the new RISC-V-based system, potentially creating a steep learning curve.

Moreover, the Ethereum community would need to reach consensus on the proposal through its decentralized governance process. Previous upgrades, such as the Merge and the introduction of EIP-1559, have shown that major changes to Ethereum can take years to implement and often face resistance from stakeholders with differing priorities.

Despite these challenges, the potential benefits of RISC-V are hard to ignore. Its open-source nature aligns with Ethereum’s commitment to decentralization, and its widespread adoption in industries like IoT and AI could attract new developers to the ecosystem. Embracing RISC-V could position Ethereum as a backbone of decentralized applications, paving the way for a new era of blockchain scalability and efficiency.



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<b>Information Sources:</b>

- [Ethereum Magicians](https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/long-term-l1-execution-layer-proposal-replace-the-evm-with-risc-v/23617)
- [Cointelegraph](https://cointelegraph.com/news/vitalik-buterin-proposes-swapping-evm-language-risc-v)

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