Ethereum's Architecture Upgrade: Transitioning to zkEVM Verification for Execution Correctness

New Direction: zkEVM Proofs Replace Traditional Execution

Ethereum Foundation member ladislaus.eth recently revealed a major architectural shift underway: moving from traditional transaction execution, where every node re-runs all transactions, to verifying zkEVM (zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine) proofs for correctness.

This transition is supported by EIP-8025, also known as 'Proof of Execution,' which allows validators at the consensus layer to verify zkEVM proofs instead of running a full execution layer, without requiring mandatory upgrades or forks.

Lower Barriers, Enhanced Scalability

The new mechanism is expected to significantly reduce hardware requirements and synchronization costs for nodes, making it more accessible for independent validators and home setups. It also lays the groundwork for future L1 scalability, ePBS (execution pre-builder separation), and native Rollup architectures.

Ethereum's L1-zkEVM roadmap aims for 2026, with the first dedicated workshop scheduled for February 11 to explore implementation details and technical pathways.