Vitalik Buterin Proposes Replacing EVM With RISC-V for Ethereum's Execution Layer

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed a transformative idea to replace the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V as the primary virtual machine language for smart contracts, aiming to enhance the efficiency and scalability of Ethereum’s execution layer. This proposal suggests that while the fundamental concepts of accounts and storage would remain unchanged, transitioning to RISC-V could significantly simplify the execution layer and address key bottlenecks in scalability. By utilizing RISC-V syscalls instead of traditional EVM opcodes, the proposal envisions improved performance, particularly in areas such as state root computation and block execution. Buterin argues that this shift could lead to efficiency gains exceeding 100 times, especially by optimizing the proving process for zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines (ZK-EVMs). The proposal outlines various implementation strategies, including supporting dual VMs for backward compatibility and potentially converting existing EVM contracts to run on a RISC-V interpreter. This radical change is seen as a necessary step to simplify the execution layer and facilitate Ethereum’s long-term scalability goals.