Scroll announces OpenVM, a new zkVM
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At the moment, Scroll, Axiom, developer Max Gillet and the Ethereum Basis’s Privateness & Scaling Explorations (PSE) staff are saying OpenVM, an open-source zkVM framework for immediate proving.
OpenVM shall be adopted by the Scroll L2 as its zkVM, and plans to validate mainnet blocks in coming months. This transitions Scroll from a at the moment Kind-3 to a Kind-1 zkEVM — probably the most totally Ethereum-equivalent zkEVM sort.
Scroll’s improve to a Stage-1 rollup with a completely functioning proof system will comply with quickly thereafter.
In response to a press launch, Scroll’s resolution to design a brand new zkVM from the bottom up was pushed by a perception that many present zkVM options had been “monolithic” and “locking builders into vertically built-in stacks.”
OpenVM’s open-source and modular structure would allow Scroll to introduce options with out making modifications to the underlying circuit, and builders to learn from zkVM enhancements with out having to switch utility code.
The state of ZK
OpenVM joins a market already crowded with zkVMs. Not like conventional digital machines, zkVMs are designed to compile and execute sensible contracts into zero-knowledge proofs in a safe and personal means that doesn’t reveal underlying information.
At the moment, the zkVM market carries not less than a dozen completely different zkVMs, resembling RISC Zero “RISC0” and Succinct’s “SP1.”
Supply: Electrical Capital
As seen within the beneath chart, proofs submitted to Ethereum mainnet noticed a peak in December 2023, largely coming from zk rollups like Linea, ZKsync and Scroll, quite than functions. Proof volumes noticed a drop in 2024, largely resulting from two components.
One, proof technology has been more and more batched utilizing recursive proof aggregation — a method that verifies a number of proofs inside one proof — to cut back prices.
Souce: zkstats.io
Second, proof verification is getting extra environment friendly, so prices are steeply declining from only a yr in the past.
Prover networks like Risc Zero’s “Boundless” and Fermah have additionally helped apps and rollups to deliver zk-proving prices down. These networks permit groups to outsource proof technology to specialised {hardware} suppliers with ASICs and GPUs that compete to generate zk proofs cheaply.
Primarily based on Electrical Capital’s current developer report, there are 2,054 month-to-month lively builders working in zk. The usage of zk has seen large development, with zk contract deployments rising from 40 to 639 in the present day over the past 4 years.
