Long-term L1 Proposal: Replacing the EVM with RISC-V

Protocol Berg 2025 · 13 Jun 2025 · 49:37

This Protocol Berg 2025 talk proposes replacing the EVM with RISC-V as Ethereum's long-term execution layer instruction set, arguing that a general-purpose, widely supported instruction set architecture would be easier to generate efficient zero-knowledge proofs for than the EVM's current bytecode. The discussion covers the tradeoffs such a fundamental change would carry for existing contracts and tooling built around the EVM. It's presented as a long-horizon research proposal rather than a near-term roadmap item.

Speakers

• Vitalik Buterin

From Protocol Berg 2025, hosted by Department of Decentralization.