Decoding the RISC Zero product matrix: How to help Ethereum move towards a ZK-based future?

Written by Linda Bell

At the recent Devcon conference, Justin Drake, a core member of the Ethereum Foundation, proposed the Beam Chain proposal, which plans to upgrade the Ethereum consensus layer through zkSNARK and zkVM technology to improve the scalability of the network.SafetyThis vision has once again drawn attention to the importance of zkVM. As a general zero-knowledge virtual machine, zkVM can handle complex calculations in a more flexible and efficient way, while getting rid of the traditional intelligencecontractLogical dependence.

Driven by this trend, projects such as RISC Zero, Succinct and Cysic are seen as important players in promoting innovation in this field. Among them, RISC Zero has developed ZethA series of open source tools such as Kailua and Bonsai not only improve the performance of block verification and Rollup, but also provide technical support for Ethereum ZK upgrades.

RISC zkVM Ecosystem Product Matrix: From Core Technology to Scenario Applications

RISC Zero is a zkVM implementation based on the RISC-V instruction set architecture. As a general zero-knowledge computing platform, it supports a variety of mainstream programming languages, such as Rust and C++, and can run almost any computing task. Compared with other zero-knowledge technology platforms, RISC Zero's prover and verifier are completely open source, and developers can generate and verify proofs locally. In addition, RISC Zero's verifier is compatible with multiple platforms and can adapt to differentBlockchainEcosystem simplifies the development process of decentralized applications.

In June this year, RISC Zero released zkVM 1.0. zkVM 1.0 not only supports multiple languages and complex computing tasks, but also uses Continuations technology to divide large-scale calculations into multiple small segments to achieve efficient parallel computing and verification. According to the roadmap, RISC Zero plans to achieve a 20-fold increase in zkVM performance and cost by the end of 2024. The optimization content includes completely migrating the proof process to the GPU (80% has been completed), introducing a new RISC-V v2 circuit design, and special optimization for recursive circuits. At the same time, RISC Zero is integrating a series of acceleration modules for algorithms such as RSA, Keccak, and ECDSA to improve the performance of Ethereum-related tasks and encryption operations.

RISC Zero has also developed a series of open source tools and products around the core capabilities of zkVM. For example, through the Bonsai network, developers can generate proof services without dedicated hardware.Zero knowledge proof; The Steel tool can transfer complex EVM calculations to the off-chain environment for operation while keeping the results verifiable, reducing the cost of on-chain execution; and Blobstream Zero bridges the Celestia data availability layer to provide modularBlockchainData sharing and verification in the ecosystem provides more possibilities.

Zeth: Prove that the entire Ethereum block is constructed correctly

Zeth is an open source Ethereum zero-knowledge block prover developed by RISC Zero based on its zkVM technology.Zero knowledge proofVerify the validity of Ethereum blocks without relying on traditional validators or synchronization committees. RISC Zero defines Zeth as Type-0 zkEVM, which is fully compatible with the Ethereum protocol and improves development efficiency through code reuse.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin wrote in the article "Different types of zk-EVMs"The zkEVM is divided into four categories, of which Type-1 strives to be completely and uncompromisingly equivalent to Ethereum; Type-2 is committed to being completely equivalent to EVM, but not completely equivalent to Ethereum; Type-3 is almost equivalent to EVM; Type-4 is completely incompatible with Ethereum.

Thanks to the high performance of RISC Zero zkVM, Zeth is able to complete the verification of Ethereum blocks in a few minutes. Test data shows that Zeth can generate block proofs at a speed of 1.1 MHz, and expand the GPU cluster through the "continuations" feature to increase the speed to 4.7 MHz to 6.3 MHz. This performance optimization also reduces the cost of proof generation. According to the test, the proof generation cost of a block containing 182 transactions is only $21.72, and the cost of each transaction is about $0.11.

At the same time, in the process of developing Zeth, the RISC Zero team made full use of the components of the Rust ecosystem, such as revm, ethers, and alloy, so that developers can quickly implement block proof functions and apply them to different scenarios. This design provides developers with more flexibility to adjust the block construction logic as needed and adapt to future Ethereum improvement proposals.

At the application level, Zeth provides efficient solutions for zk Rollup, light clients, and cross-chain bridges. The construction of traditional zk Rollup and zkEVM requires a lot of time and money, which is daunting for small teams. Zeth is based on a modular zkVM architecture, allowing developers to easily customize block verification logic. For example:

• zk Rollup: Zeth can quickly implement block proofs, shorten the development cycle of ZK Rollup and reduce capital investment.

• Light client: Verify block validity without rebuilding blocks, reducing operating costs.

• Cross-chain bridge: Zeth can verify the correctness of cross-chain data without leaking sensitive information on the chain through ZKP, which reduces the trust reliance on third parties and reduces the risk of cross-chain attacks.

In May this year, Zeth successfully expanded to support the extraction of Optimism block data from the Ethereum mainnet, and generated ZKP to verify the correctness of the block, and also supported on-chain verification. In other words, with the help of Zeth, Optimism can verify transactions more efficiently and resolve transaction disputes.

Bonsai: Allowing developers to generate proofs without using their own hardware

Bonsai 是一项专为 zkVM 应用程序设计的远程证明服务，允许开发者无需使用自身硬件生成证明，从而解决了链上计算资源有限与高昂成本之间的矛盾。通过 Bonsai，开发者只需定义需要执行的 zkVM 应用程序及输入数据，Bonsai 即可在后台运行计算，并生成相应的零知识证明。这一过程完全无需开发者部署额外的硬件设备。同时，Bonsai 利用了大量的 GPU 集群，支持并行化处理多个计算任务。此外，Bonsai 提供简洁易用的 API 和 SDK 接口，使开发者能够轻松将其集成到现有系统中，进一步降低了开发难度。

Based on this remote proof service, RISC Zero launched the open source tool Bonsai Pay, which combines OAuth2.0 authentication and ZKP technology to enable users to send or receive on the Ethereum network through a Google account.TokenFor example, when Alice wants to transfer funds to Bob, Alice can enter Bob's Google email address and the transfer amount through Bonsai Pay. Bob can then log in to Bonsai Pay, enter his email address and complete Google account authentication. Bonsai Pay will use OAuth 2.0 to generate authorizationToken, proving that Bob is indeed the owner of the email address. Bonsai Pay then calls the Bonsai Proof Service to generate a zero-knowledge proof, proving that Bob’s Google account iswalletAddress associated. SmartcontractOnce the proof is verified, the funds are unlocked and transferred to Bob’swalletaddress.

Throughout the process, Bonsai Pay used ZKP technology to verify the fact that "Bob's Google account is associated with the wallet address" while avoiding the disclosure of any specific information of the Google account.

Bonsai 的另一重要应用是 Bonsai ZK 协处理器（ZK Co-processor）。它通过零知识证明技术，将复杂的计算任务从链上转移到链下，且生成不可篡改的证明以确保结果的正确性。同时，Bonsai 协处理器的部署也十分简单，开发者只需编写一个 zkVM 应用程序来处理逻辑，并通过简单的 Solidity contract调用 Bonsai，运行计算并验证结果。整个过程中，Bonsai 证明服务负责生成链下计算的零知识证明，这些证明可以在链上验证。

The Bonsai ZK coprocessor is suitable for on-chain applications that require high performance and low cost. DAO In governance, it can transfer complex voting calculations to the off-chain, significantly reducing on-chain gas fees. DAO Governor reduces the gas cost per ticket by more than 50% through the coprocessor, effectively improving governance efficiency and lowering the participation threshold.

Boundless: Verifiable Computation Layer

In the traditionBlockchainIn order to ensure the validity of transactions, all nodes need to repeat all calculations of each transaction.SafetyIn order to solve this problem, RISC Zero launched Boundless, which allows a single node to generate a verifiable zero-knowledge proof after completing the calculation. Other nodes only need to verify the proof to confirm the result without repeating the calculation.

Boundless simplifies the verification process through recursive combination technology. It combines multiple small zero-knowledge proofs into an overall proof, so that the verifier only needs to check one total proof instead of verifying all the proofs one by one. In order to further optimize the efficiency of generating zero-knowledge proofs, Boundless has built-in dedicated cryptographic acceleration circuits to optimize the efficiency of common tasks such as hash calculations and digital signature verification.

此外，开发者使用 Boundless 不需要深入了解零知识技术，只需用熟悉的编程语言（如 Rust 或 Solidity）编写应用程序即可。目前，Boundless 已向开发者开放免费访问。开发者无需迁移现有系统或更新验证合约，就可以利用 Boundless 提供的 proving 服务，在任意Blockchain上快速构建和部署零知识应用。

Blobstream Zero: A zkVM cross-chain bridge that simplifies cross-chain data verification

Blobstream Zero 是 RISC Zero 和 Celestia 合作推出的基于 zkVM 的跨链桥，旨在将 Celestia 的数据可用性层无缝连接到现有的模块化Blockchain生态中。通过共享和验证 Celestia 上的数据，BlobXiaobai NavigationStream Zero enables more convenient data transmission and verification between chains.

As a completely open source public product, Blobstream Zero allows any project or developer to run a local instance and generate zero-knowledge proofs. In addition, Blobstream Zero can also provide support for ZK coprocessors. ZK coprocessors are essentially off-chain computing tools, so reliable data is required to perform calculations. Blobstream Zero can obtain data from blockchains such as Celestia, and can generate ZK proofs to prove that the transmitted data is reliable.

Steel: A new paradigm for smart contracts with off-chain execution and on-chain verification

Steel is an open source tool launched by RISC Zero that uses zkVM technology to implement verifiable smart contract execution off-chain. Through Steel, developers can transfer EVM operations from on-chain to off-chain execution, while generating zero-knowledge proofs to ensure the authenticity and verifiability of calculation results.

Traditional smart contracts require all logic to be fully executed on the chain, which not only has high gas costs, but also limits the development of complex applications. Steel's off-chain calculation and on-chain verification mechanism solves this problem. For example, in a simple smart contract, determine whether the ERC20 balance of an account is greater than 1 and increment the counter variable. The traditional method requires the full execution of logic on the chain, while Steel completes the calculation and generates zero-knowledge proofs off-chain. Only the proof needs to be verified on the chain, without the need to repeatedly execute the contract logic.

Currently, RISC Zero has released Steel 1.0, and some partners have successfully developed applications using the tool. For example, in a contract call that processes about 400,000 SLOAD operations, the calculation is transferred to the off-chain execution through Steel, and then the generated zero-knowledge proof is verified on the chain. The proof generation cost is less than $10, and the on-chain verification cost is less than 300,000 Gas.

Kailua: A hybrid ZK solution that drives innovation in Rollup architecture

Following the release of Zeth, RISC Zero launched Kailua, which aims to provide an upgrade solution for optimistic Rollup that is a hybrid ZK Rollup. Traditional optimistic Rollup usually requires a 7-day challenge period, resulting in slow transaction finality. Although ZK Rollup can achieve finality quickly, the cost of continuously generating zero-knowledge proofs is too high. Kailua combines the advantages of both and achieves a balance between cost and efficiency through a hybrid architecture. As an extension of the Optimism Kona framework, Kailua not only supports unmodified Kona running on zkVM, but also introduces an innovative dispute resolution mechanism, reduces staking requirements and reduces finality delays, thereby improving the efficiency and availability of the system.

In Kailua's architecture, the dispute mechanism adopts a completely new design. First, its dispute resolution mechanism removes the time limit, allowing validators to have sufficient time to generate proofs in special circumstances such as network outages, thereby enhancing the resilience of the system. Even in extreme cases, the RISC Zero zkVM's extended architecture can still complete the proof within an hour. In addition, Kailua's on-demand verification function allows developers to flexibly configure the verification frequency and gradually transition to a fully verified Rollup mode at a lower cost.

Unlike ZK Rollup, Kailua's design does not require continuous proof generation. For Rollups with low frequency of empty blocks or special contract requirements, Kailua provides a more cost-effective option. At the same time, Kailua also significantly reduces the staking cost requirements of Rollup. The staking amount of traditional optimistic Rollup increases linearly with longer finality cycles, while Kailua's optimized design fixes the staking requirements, allowing the system to be maintained at a lower cost even over a long period of time.SafetySex and activity.

Currently, Kailua is fully open source. Developers can use its command line tools to deploy a local Optimism test network and quickly upgrade it to a network that supports ZK fault proofs. Kailua also supports simulated fault proposals to help developers understand how validators challenge error states through zkVM, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of its dispute resolution mechanism. In the future, Kailua will further optimize costs and performance, and expand support to more Rollup frameworks.

Summarize

As can be seen from the above, RISC Zero's zkVM product matrix is promoting the development of zero-knowledge proof technology in multiple fields. Zeth and Kailua focus on Rollup architecture optimization, improving block verification efficiency and dispute resolution speed. Bonsai provides remote proof services, reducing hardware dependence and operating costs, enabling developers to build applications more efficiently. Blobstream Zero provides reliable support for the modular blockchain ecosystem by efficiently verifying cross-chain data. In addition, Steel reduces the Gas cost of smart contract execution through the mode of off-chain computing and on-chain verification.

Of course, while continuously improving the zkVM product matrix, RISC Zero is also continuously promoting innovation in the underlying technology of zkVM. Recently, RISC Zero zkVM released version 1.2, introducing a new precompilation method that allows developers to deploy precompiled logic with applications without being built into the zkVM itself. This means that developers can add new precompiled logic without modifying the configuration of the on-chain verification contract or coordinating the prover, and without forking or major changes to zkVM to achieve performance optimization. In addition, by defining precompilation through application, the computational cost of proof generation can also be reduced. For example, after Automata integrated RSA precompilation, the execution cycle was reduced from 39 million to 217,000, and the cost was reduced by about 180 times.

With the continuous optimization of zkVM technology, its development potential will gradually be reflected in multiple application scenarios. However, if we want to better unleash this potential, we still have to rely on ecological collaboration and the actual performance of technology implementation.

The article comes from the Internet:Decoding the RISC Zero product matrix: How to help Ethereum move towards a ZK-based future?

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