What innovative approach does Vitalik Buterin propose for Ethereum’s architecture? How has Matter Labs responded to the lawsuit regarding intellectual property theft? What implications does the Scroll’s Euclid upgrade have for its decentralization efforts? What new feature has EigenLayer introduced to enhance its “restaking” protocol?
Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, the Ethereum protocol reporter on CoinDesk’s Tech team.
In this issue:
- Vitalik Buterin Proposes Replacing Ethereum’s EVM With RISC-V
- Matter Labs, ZKsync Developer, Sued for Alleged Intellectual Property Theft
- Scroll’s Euclid Upgrade Pushes It Into ‘Stage 1’ Decentralization Era
- EigenLayer Adds Key ‘Slashing’ Feature, Completing Original Vision
This article is featured in the latest issue of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.
Network News
SWAPPING THE EVM FOR RISC-V?: Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared a new proposal that would radically overhaul the system that powers its smart contracts. Buterin’s suggestion, which he posted on Ethereum’s primary developer forum, involves replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine, the software engine that powers programs on the network, with RISC-V, a popular open-source framework that offers built-in encryption and other benefits. The EVM has long played an essential role in Ethereum’s development. Other chains that use it can seamlessly connect with apps on Ethereum, and developers on EVM-based networks can transition more smoothly to building applications directly within the Ethereum ecosystem. Buterin argued that transitioning Ethereum to a RISC-V architecture will “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.” — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
MATTER LABS SUED FOR ALLEGED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THEFT: Matter Labs, the company behind layer-2 blockchain ZKSync, has been sued by BANKEX, a defunct digital asset banking platform, for intellectual property theft. According to a complaint filed Mar. 19 with the New York State Supreme Court, former BANKEX employees Alexandr Vlasov and Petr Korolev allegedly stole the company’s technology to start Matter Labs, which received over $450 million in venture capital funding and has become a major player in the blockchain industry. The complaint, which names BANKEX CEO Igor Khmel and the BANKEX Foundation as plaintiffs, alleged BANKEX was approached by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in 2017 to build operational software for "Plasma," a technology that was seen at the time as a way to make Ethereum cheaper to use. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
SCROLL EUCLID UPGRADE BRINGS IN STAGE-1 DECENTRALIZATION ERA: Scroll, the Ethereum layer-2 network, shared that it has launched its Euclid upgrade, which the team called its most significant protocol transformation to date. According to Scroll Labs, a key consequence of the upgrade is that it transitions Scroll from a "stage 0" to a “stage 1” rollup, meaning the network will retire some centrally-controlled safety features in an effort to become more decentralized. “Euclid represents the biggest leap forward for Scroll since its inception,” the team wrote in a blog post shared with CoinDesk. “It’s a statement about Scroll’s future and its commitment to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the ZK Rollup arena.” — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
EIGENLAYER ‘SLASHING’ FEATURE FINALLY GOES LIVE: Almost one year to the day after Ethereum protocol EigenLayer launched its “restaking” network to unprecedented industry fanfare, the network is finally adding a core feature that was, until now, glaringly absent: “slashing.” Eigen Labs hopes slashing — EigenLayer’s system for keeping “restakers” honest by revoking collateral if they act maliciously — will finally realize the year-old protocol’s original pitch. “We are happy to say now that the whole promise has been delivered,” said EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan. — Sam Kessler Read more.
In Other News
Traders shorting Strategy (MSTR), the bitcoin buyer whose share price gained 13% in March, may be struggling to find enough stock to repay the lenders who underpinned their bets the company’s value would fall. More than $180 million worth of trades in MSTR stock failed to settle last month, data from the SEC and Fintel show. These events, known as Failures to Deliver (FTDs), happen when a seller doesn’t deliver shares to the buyer by the settlement deadline, now just one business day after the trade (T+1). — James Van Straten and AI Boost Read more.
- Bitcoin (BTC) has become the fifth-largest asset by market capitalization, reaching $1.86 trillion and surpassing Google (GOOG) as it breaks through $94,000. This marks the highest position bitcoin has ever attained in the rankings, even though its market cap previously exceeded $2 trillion when its price was over $109,000. At that time, however, tech stocks were significantly more elevated than they are at the moment. — James Van Straten Read more.
Regulatory and Policy
Paul Atkins has taken the oath to formally become chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which returns Mark Uyeda to his previous role as a Republican Commissioner after three busy months of service as the agency’s stand-in chief. Atkins permanently replaces the former chair, Gary Gensler, who the crypto industry had widely seen as its chief antagonist in the U.S. government. — Jesse Hamilton Read more.
- Fundraising for sophisticated crypto investment vehicles has yet to fully experience the anticipated positive headwind of the Donald Trump presidency, according to a new report by the Crypto Insight Group. Momentum "remains positive but slower than [fund] managers anticipated under the new Trump administration," the Hedge Fund Outlook 2Q25 report said. — Jamie Crawley Read more.
Calendar
Will ETH Developers Swap Out the EVM for RISC-V?
The Ethereum ecosystem has long been recognized for its innovative approach to decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts, largely powered by the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). However, the talk of replacing the EVM with RISC-V has emerged as a significant topic of discussion within the blockchain community. To understand the potential for this change, it is crucial to delve deeper into the EVM’s function, the nature of RISC-V, and the implications of such a swap.
The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and Its Role
At its core, the EVM is a crucial component of the Ethereum blockchain, executing smart contracts and handling state transitions for the Ethereum network. It provides an environment for developers to write decentralized applications using Solidity, Ethereum’s proprietary programming language. Its stack-based architecture enables complex computations required for the operation of these smart contracts.
While the EVM has proven its utility and resilience over the years, it does have its limitations. For instance, scalability and performance issues can arise as network demand increases, leading to higher gas fees and slower transaction speeds during peak times. Moreover, the EVM’s architecture can make it challenging to optimize applications for various use cases outside the Ethereum ambit, needing alternatives to maintain the network’s competitive edge.
What Is RISC-V?
RISC-V is an open-source instruction set architecture (ISA) that was developed to facilitate research and development in computer architectures. It provides a framework that lets developers build and optimize processors with reduced complexity while ensuring flexibility and adaptability. Unlike proprietary architectures like x86 or ARM, RISC-V promotes an open standard, enabling developers to tailor the instructions to specific needs.
RISC-V’s modularity is one of its significant draws; it allows for custom extensions to the base architecture, providing developers with the ability to optimize for particular applications without needing proprietary licenses. This feature could potentially lead to increased efficiency for blockchain applications, making RISC-V a viable candidate to replace the EVM.
Advantages of RISC-V Over EVM
Performance and Scalability: One of the most compelling reasons for considering RISC-V is its potential for improved performance. Its architecture can be tailored to meet the specific demands of blockchain applications, potentially leading to lower latency and higher throughput. As Ethereum looks to enhance scalability through initiatives like Ethereum 2.0 and sharding, RISC-V-oriented solutions could offer customized optimization.
Flexibility and Customization: Being an open-source ISA, RISC-V allows developers to create extensions that can be optimized for specific workloads or applications. This flexibility could empower Ethereum developers to create specialized versions of their contracts that could operate more efficiently than the current EVM-based versions.
Decentralization and Community Development: The open nature of RISC-V encourages collaboration among developers, which can drive further innovations in both hardware and software solutions within the blockchain realm. This decentralization aligns with Ethereum’s philosophy and could foster a more vibrant ecosystem of tools and solutions.
- Hardware Compatibility: RISC-V can be implemented on various hardware platforms, leading to the possibility of specialized Ethereum nodes that can execute smart contracts more efficiently. This could help to reduce the energy footprint associated with mining and running nodes, making the Ethereum network more sustainable.
Challenges and Considerations
The prospect of swapping out the EVM for RISC-V is not without its challenges. Transitioning a well-established architecture like the EVM entails significant risks, including potential disruptions to existing dApps and smart contracts. Such a change would necessitate backward compatibility measures, and developers would require time to adapt to the new architecture.
Furthermore, there is the question of adoption. For RISC-V to effectively replace the EVM, it would need widespread acceptance within the Ethereum developer community. Existing tooling, libraries, and documentation would also need to be overhauled or created anew, leading to significant resource allocation.
Additionally, the current transition toward Ethereum 2.0, which aims to improve scalability and reduce energy consumption, may provide sufficient enhancements to the EVM that undermine the need for such a radical shift.
Conclusion
While the prospect of replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine with RISC-V is intriguing, it remains a topic of ongoing debate among developers and enthusiasts within the Ethereum community. Both the EVM and RISC-V offer unique advantages and challenges. Transitioning to a new architecture would require careful consideration, weighing the benefits of performance, flexibility, and the push toward open standards against the need for stability and compatibility.
As Ethereum continues to evolve, the dialogue surrounding potential architectural shifts, including the integration of RISC-V, underscores the community’s commitment to innovation. Whether or not developers ultimately decide to implement RISC-V within the Ethereum ecosystem, the mere consideration signifies an ongoing quest for improvement in one of the most dynamic domains of technology today. The journey ahead is undoubtedly complex, but it also presents a fertile ground for further exploration and advancement.
The discussion around Ethereum’s potential shift from the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to RISC-V reflects ongoing exploration in blockchain scalability and efficiency. RISC-V is an open standard instruction set architecture that offers more flexibility and customization compared to the EVM’s existing structure.
Advocates of transitioning to RISC-V highlight its benefits, such as increased performance, lower resource consumption, and greater adaptability for various applications. The idea is that a RISC-V-based approach could allow for enhanced smart contract execution and improved interoperability with other systems.
However, several challenges must be addressed before such a shift could occur. The Ethereum ecosystem comprises numerous existing applications and developers who are already accustomed to the EVM environment. Transitioning to RISC-V might introduce compatibility issues and require significant retraining for developers.
Additionally, there would be considerable work needed to ensure the security and reliability of any new system, as Ethereum’s current infrastructure is well-tested in the field. Given these complexities, while the concept of adopting RISC-V is intriguing, its practical implementation would require extensive planning and a broad consensus within the community. The evolution of blockchain technology often involves gradual adaptation rather than radical shifts, suggesting that any major changes would need to be carefully considered and executed to maintain the network’s integrity and user trust.