Vitalik Buterin applauds the breakthrough in real-time ZK proving but stresses the need for caution.

Vitalik Buterin, a co-founder of Ethereum, celebrated a significant advancement in zero-knowledge (ZK) technology this week, praising the recent progress in real-time proving as an “incredibly impressive” achievement.

His remarks were prompted by a post from developer Uma Roy, who shared that her team had successfully attained real-time proving for Ethereum, a feat that many in the cryptography world viewed as nearly impossible just a year ago.

Challenges in performance and verification

Roy’s announcement, which gained considerable attention online, portrayed this achievement as a pivotal moment for the ZK sector.

Yet, some analysts, including researcher Zeng Jiajun, expressed skepticism regarding the transformative nature of the proving system, considering earlier predictions that such advancements were many years away.

While applauding the progress, Buterin stressed that the development, despite its impressive nature, should not be regarded as ready for deployment on Ethereum’s Layer 1 network.

He pointed out that the current proving approach only considers average scenarios and does not tackle worst-case performance, a crucial factor for ensuring a dependable and secure Layer 1 implementation.

Additionally, he highlighted the absence of formal verification, meaning the system has yet to undergo thorough mathematical validation to ensure its accuracy.

Vitalik emphasized that this remains a significant drawback in the high-stakes domain of Ethereum, where the immutability of code and associated financial risks are critical.

Energy consumption and scaling ambitions

Another issue raised by Buterin was the energy requirements of the system. Reports indicate that the real-time prover consumes approximately 100 kilowatts of energy, rendering it unfeasible for standard or domestic use.

Buterin mentioned that, ideally, such systems should function on machines with about 10 kilowatts of power to promote greater decentralization and accessibility, allowing proving to be conducted from home.

He also referred to Ethereum’s long-term objectives for scaling, particularly the intention to increase the Layer 1 gas limit by a factor of 10 to 100.

Realizing such a substantial boost in the gas limit would necessitate considerable optimization in proving performance, further supporting his view that the technology has several hurdles to navigate before it can be integrated at the foundational protocol level.

Despite these reservations, Buterin reiterated his respect for Roy and her team’s efforts, deeming it a noteworthy milestone in the ZK domain. However, he also acknowledged that further work is required before Ethereum can seamlessly adopt these innovations into its core systems.