The Ethereum Basis has revealed a step-by-step plan to allow the Ethereum principal chain to validate blocks utilizing zkEVM proofs, lowering the necessity for validators to re-run all calculations themselves. The proposal, shared through X on January 15 by Tomasz Okay. Stanczak, Co-Govt Director of the Ethereum Basis, lays out the engineering work required throughout Ethereum’s execution and consensus purchasers, in addition to new proof infrastructure and safety processes.
zkEVM for L1 – Plan https://t.co/KLz7PoH6q9
— Tomasz Okay. Stanczak (@tkstanczak) January 15, 2026
Ethereum L1 strikes in the direction of ZK proof-based verification
Already in July final 12 months, the Ethereum Basis introduced its “ZK First” method. Presently, Ethereum validators usually test blocks by re-executing transactions and evaluating the outcomes. The plan proposes an alternate wherein validators can confirm the right execution of a block with cryptographic proof.
This doc summarizes the supposed pipeline in plain language. The execution consumer generates a compact “monitoring” bundle for the block, a standardized zkEVM program makes use of that bundle to generate a proof of right execution, and the consensus consumer verifies that proof throughout block validation.
The primary milestone is to create an “ExecutionWitness”, a per-block knowledge construction containing the data wanted to confirm execution with out re-execution. The plan requires a proper witness format for Ethereum’s execution specs, conformance testing, and standardized RPC endpoints. It states that the present debug_executionWitness endpoint is already “utilized in manufacturing by Optimism’s Kona,” suggesting {that a} extra zk-friendly endpoint could also be wanted.
A key dependency is enhanced monitoring of which components of state are touched by a block through a block-level entry checklist (BAL). The doc states that as of November 2025, this work was not deemed pressing sufficient to be backported to the earlier fork.
The subsequent milestone is the “zkEVM Visitor Program”. That is described as stateless validation logic that checks whether or not a block produces a legitimate state transition when mixed with a monitoring operate. This plan emphasizes reproducible builds and compiling to standardized targets, so assumptions are specific and verifiable.
The plan goals to maneuver past Ethereum-specific code and standardize the interface between zkVM and visitor packages: a typical goal, a typical option to entry precompilation and I/O, and agreed upon assumptions about how packages are loaded and executed.
On the consensus aspect, the roadmap requires modifications to permit consensus purchasers to simply accept zk proofs as a part of beacon block validation, together with accompanying specs, take a look at vectors, and inner deployment plans. The doc additionally flags the provision of the execution payload as necessary, which may embrace a “block right into a blob” method.
This proposal treats proof era as an operational downside in addition to a protocol downside. This consists of milestones for integrating zkVM with EF instruments like Ethproofs and Ere, testing GPU setups (together with “zkboost”), and monitoring reliability and bottlenecks.
Benchmarking is structured as a steady effort, with clear objectives similar to measuring witness era time, proof creation and verification time, and community impression of proof propagation. These measurements could issue into future fuel pricing proposals for zk-heavy workloads.
Safety can also be marked as everlasting and consists of planning for formal specs, monitoring, provide chain controls similar to reproducible builds and artifact signing, and a documented belief and risk mannequin. This paper proposes a “go/no-go framework” for figuring out when a proof system is mature sufficient to be extensively used.
One exterior dependency stands out. ePBS. The documentation explains that it’s crucial to provide the prover extra time. With out that, the plan says it will take a prover “1 to 2 seconds” to create a proof. “6 to 9 seconds.” The doc provides a two-sentence framework to precise urgency: “This isn’t a mission we’re engaged on, however it’s an optimization we’d like.” It’s anticipated that ePBS will likely be launched to Gramsterdam in mid-2026.
As soon as these milestones are achieved, Ethereum will transfer in the direction of proof-based verification as a viable possibility at L1, though proof timing and operational complexity will stay gate components.
On the time of writing, ETH was buying and selling at $3,300.
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