Emily Walker
The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has made a significant investment, committing “tens of millions” of dollars to promote zero-knowledge Virtual Machines (zkVMs), a pioneering technology that aims to improve the scalability and security of the Ethereum network.
Justin Ðrake, a researcher associated with the Ethereum Foundation, announced the funding through a post on X: “The EF is investing tens of millions into zkVMs: verified-zkevm.org—zkRISC-V formal verification poseidon-initiative.info—Poseidon cryptanalysis ethproofs.org—L2beat for zkVMs, soon DM me about contributing to zkVM public goods :)”
Massive Investment in zkEVM Research by Ethereum Foundation
A key element of this investment is the zkEVM Formal Verification Project, outlined on verified-zkevm.org. This project aims to implement formal verification techniques for zkEVMs, enhancing their reliability and security. The EF’s goal is to achieve “bug-free zkEVMs” by distributing grants and bounties over an 18-24 month period across different phases.
The project intends to raise awareness about formal verification of zkEVMs, document its applications, and promote its usage. Furthermore, it aims to foster collaboration among teams within the ecosystem, develop maintenance standards, and improve the integration of formal verification in software development processes. The project’s focus is on RISC-V zkVMs that can execute an EVM compiled for RISC-V to create a zkEVM. It is structured into three main tracks:
RISC-V zkVM Track: Concentrates on verifying the correct implementation of a RISC-V CPU along with its arithmetic and circuit operations. It aims to ensure that circuits are properly constrained and computations are accurate, including formal verification of precompiles.
EVM Track: Aims to validate that EVM operations on RISC-V align with official specifications. Proposed implementations for verification should be effective and capable of being compiled on RISC-V zkVMs, for example, revm/Reth.
Cryptography Track: Focuses on verifying specifications, security proofs, and implementations of cryptographic algorithms and protocols used by zkVMs, particularly examining FRI and Circle STARKs integrations.
The initiative values diverse methodologies, encouraging the community to share their expertise. “We will support different approaches where feasible to leverage the community’s varied knowledge,” the project states, noting that successful methodologies may be prioritized in later stages.
Currently, applications for Stage 1, which aims to establish maintainable and extensible frameworks, are open. Proposals must include comprehensive overviews, technical strategies, project management plans, and team details.
Another vital aspect of the EF’s investment is the Poseidon Initiative, as highlighted on poseidon-initiative.info. Poseidon and Poseidon2 are hash functions created for verifiable computation protocols, optimized to minimize circuit size in prime fields. These hash functions play a crucial role in many Ethereum applications that use zero-knowledge proofs.
The initiative’s objective is to enhance the security assessment of Poseidon instances to gauge their applicability for critical Ethereum applications. Phase 1 is scheduled to conclude in December 2025, while Phase 2 will kick off in mid-2025 and wrap up in December 2026. This project is overseen by the Ethereum Foundation Poseidon Group (EFPG), which includes experts like George Kadianakis, Dmitry Khovratovich, and Antonio Sanso, with guidance from an advisory board that features prominent figures like Eli Ben-Sasson of StarkNet and Daira-Emma Hopwood of ZCash.
A standout feature of the Poseidon Initiative is its extensive bounty program, which allocates a total of $130,000 in rewards for advancements in cryptanalysis. This includes various bounty levels across different Poseidon instances, encouraging researchers to identify vulnerabilities or verify security presumptions. For instance, successfully tackling a 32-bit preimage attack on Poseidon-256 could net a researcher $10,000, with rewards for higher security levels reaching up to $15,000.
Moreover, the initiative supports workshops, retreats, and educational events centered on Poseidon cryptanalysis, promoting collaboration and knowledge exchange within the cryptographic community. Short-term grants of $20,000 to $40,000 are available for research addressing important security issues related to Poseidon variants and various attack vectors.
While ethproofs.org is still in development, it is anticipated to serve as a platform for integrating L2beat with zkVMs, further improving the transparency and accountability of zkVM performance and security metrics.
As of the latest update, ETH is trading at $3,590.
