What is RISC-V?

RISC-V, pronounced “Risk Five”, is a contemporary architecture of a set of Open Source (ISA) instructions based on a computer rules with a set of instructions (RISC). Simply put, it is like a plan that defines a set of instructions that the processor can perform.

RISC-V has been designed to be very modular, competent and pliant. Originally developed by the University of California in 2010, Open-Source Framework give programmers flexibility in adapting its functionality and utilize cases, and also offers cost savings compared to ISA reserved, such as ARM or X86. This offers a wide range of applications, from supercomputers to smartphones, and now blocks such as Ethereum.

On April 20, 2025, co -founder of Ethereum Vitalik Buterin presented the “radical” modern scaling application To replace the Ethereum (EVM) virtual machine for the architecture of the RISC-V instructions, aimed at increasing the speed and efficiency of the network layer. The point is that RISC-V is the best way to solve blockchain scalability.

“It is to significantly improve the efficiency of the Ethereum layer, the solution of one of the original bottleneck of scaling, and can also significantly improve the simplicity of the execution layer – in fact it is the only way to do it.

Idea: Replace EVM RISC-V as a virtual machine language in which intelligent contracts are saved “,” – said Buterin.

Ethereum still encounters high fees for transactions and a reduced volume of transactions when users go to a layer of 2 for cheaper, faster transactions. This is in accordance with the strategy of scaling Ethereum to Merge (2022). The idea of ​​Buterin to transform the chain is seen as a chance to modernize and maintain his dominance as the best intelligent contract platform.

Do you know? The Ethereum layer has become his main bottleneck. I ineffective processing of intelligent contracts and transactions due to single -layer performance, waste of computing design and complex state management causes network grubs.

How would RISC-V work on Ethereum?

The addition of RISC-V to Ethereum is still a proposal discussed by community and network management. Bemenin presents several approaches to the implementation of proposals, including the launch of two virtual machines (virtual machines) or a complete transition to RISC-V.

The first idea for servicing virtual machines would allow you to write and perform contracts in the existing EVM or RISC-V model. Both types of contracts would have access to functionality, such as permanent storage, maintaining the ether balance (ETH) and making and receiving calls. By adding to this, the contract may integrate so that they can call each other.

An alternative approach, described as “more radical”, would modify the protocol of converting existing EVM contracts. This would require rewriting current contracts in interaction with the EVM interpreter, while new contracts would be written directly in RISC-V.

The main challenge for such a drastic change is to avoid breaking existing decentralized applications (DAPPS) and intelligent contracts. Ethereum cannot risk breaking existing contracts written in the current EVM code. The transitional solution may include the use of a translator – basically a translation layer between different computing languages. This would allow programmers to start building with RISC-V, while providing older EVM contracts still operate without interference.

Do you know? In 2022, Ethereum performed forward in the field of energy efficiency and provided greater scalability, safety and sustainable development. In a process called “merging” a chain switched from the evidence mechanism (POW) to proof on the table (POS). This included merging Dennet Ethereum with a separate blockchain POS called navigation chain.

Key benefits of RISC-V vs. EVM

If RISC-V causes a significant change in Ethereum architecture, what will be the benefits of making this change? In the long run, RISC-V would improve the efficiency and processing of Ethereum Smart Contracts.

According to Buterin, new architecture can theoretically ensure an increase in 100x efficiency; In fact, this number will be difficult to achieve, but profits would still be significant. Profits from performance are associated with the usefulness of RISC-V for both zero knowledge evidence (ZK) and the overall performance of an intelligent contract, because it eliminates the general costs of EVM.

The point is not to directly replace EVM, but more use of RISC-V as a backend for ZKEVM or similar ZK development, where the costs of provenations dominate. Calval improvements would largely result from unloading to ZK Rollups, and RISC-V optimizes the process of proving.

Intelligent RISC-V contracts can work faster and use less computing resources. This increased performance would probably translate into lower gas fees for end users. In this process, this would also be allowed to support more users and transactions without slowing down. It would be a direct improvement in Ethereum scalability, potentially solving one of the greatest critics of the blockchain industry.

In addition, a simple, flexible set of RISC-V instructions is better for calculations resistant to ZK than EVM, which bears the general costs of administrative tasks, such as gas accounting and state management.

Instead of rebuilding EVM for ZK-resistant, RISC-V offers an improved alternative, simplifying the development of the implementation layers of optimized ZK. This can speed up the Ethereum road map in the field of privacy and scalability via ZK Rollus, thanks to which RISC-V is a convincing complement to EVM.

Below is a comparative table summarizing the key differences and benefits of RISC-V vs. EVM.

Do you know? Ethereum has undergone several main milestones of development during the first decade. In particular in 2016, he carried out a heavy fork to reverse the chain after Dao hacker. The result is still noticeable in the case of classic Ethereum and Ethereum chains.

Will RISC-V be implemented in the future?

The Buterin proposal caused a lively debate among Ethereum users and programmers. This is an ambitious idea that can be a milestone in the development map for the leading intelligent contract blockchain.

Programmer Ben Adams has raised some fears about this proposal: in short, ZK-resistance may become more efficient, but a compromise may occur. Blocking and making blocks that launch intelligent contracts can become much slower.

“The risk here is that organizing ZK may be better, but building blocks and execution will deteriorate significantly,” Ben Adams commented.

The sentiment that was he repeated By another anonymous commentator: “I agree here with Ben Adams, EVM as a whole is very based on U256, so abstraction to RISC-V will reduce the overall performance efficiency.”

Others seemed to agree that RISC-V was a good idea to help reduce the bottlenecks, but they questioned whether it was a priority, taking into account the potential technical difficulties and costs.

“I agree, it seems a good idea for L1, which solves points 2 and 3 of the L1 bottlenecks. But is it a set of priorities for which we want to solve, especially considering the scale of technical costs here?” in addition Adam Cochran.

It is obvious that the proposal still requires clarity and further discussions in the Ethereum community. Although the promise lies in a radical simplification, which drives performance and speed, it also introduces a intricate technical change. This would potentially require years of dedication in thinking about how blockchain layer 1 works.

Of course, as with any decentralized project, green featherlight is not based not only on technical planning; I need the consent of the community. Thus, currently, Buterin has opened a broad conversation about any approaching developmental activities.