What Is zkEVM?

Before identifying what the Zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) entails, it is important to understand the role of the Ethereum Virtual Machine.

The Ethereum Virtual machine helps manage the deployment and execution of smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain.

Several apps and tasks are running on the Ethereum protocol; the Ethereum Virtual Machine manages them all.

The EVM has robust data storage and decentralized nodes for all operations.

The instruction module of the Ethereum Virtual Machine is “Turing Complete.”

The combination of Optimistic Rollup and Zero-knowledge Rollup birthed zkEVM.

Both Optimistic and Zero-knowledge Rollup are layer2 scaling solutions to reduce gas fees and transaction time.

The zkEVM upgrade will ensure the Ethereum blockchain processes transactions faster and charges less gas fee.


Keywords: Ethereum, blockchain, EVM, zero-knowledge, virtual, developers, machine.


[Full Article]

Vibrant and outstanding features characterize the present era of blockchain technology. Developers are rolling out several scaling solutions daily to ensure that the blockchain protocols work seamlessly.

In other words, there are continuous battles among these various protocols leveraging blockchain technology. These battles are healthy and geared towards ensuring the blockchain protocols improve scalability and workability.

These battles range from public chains to the battle of Ethereum scaling solutions to other blockchain-based solutions. The most intelligent among these solutions is the Ethereum scaling solution.

This article will identify the Ethereum scaling solutions built to make the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) work properly. One of those technologies is zkEVM.

Let's begin!

Before delving into the Zero-Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM), a comprehensive solution to the Ethereum protocol, we shall identify how the Ethereum blockchain works. Our spotlight will also explain the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) mechanism.


The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Mechanism

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The Ethereum blockchain provides a decentralized platform for blockchain developers to build and launch their Apps. The smart contract or code that runs these protocols is the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

The Ethereum Virtual Machine is the essential component of the Ethereum blockchain that manages the deployment and execution of smart contracts. Millions of executable tasks and transactions are running on the Ethereum network; the Ethereum Virtual Machine handles all these tasks simultaneously.

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) has robust permanent data storage and decentralized nodes across several terminals. These decentralized nodes verify the validity of transactions and create new blocks in the Ethereum blockchain.

The instruction set of the Ethereum Virtual Machine is “Turing-complete.” This instruction set allows you to deploy contracts on the Ethereum blockchain and use such contracts to perform any programmable task.

The use cases of the Turing complete in Ethereum Virtual Machine include the creation of fungible tokens that comply with the ERC-20 standard. Nonfungible tokens under the ERC-721 standard are also use cases of EVM’s Turing complete.

The Ethereum Virtual Machine is similar to all virtual computer machines. The EVM has a stack-based architecture; it can store all in-memory values on a stack and work with a word size of 256 bits.

It is essential to know that the predecessor of the Ethereum Virtual Machine is BitTorrent software.

The disagreement over BitTorrent that prompted the development and launch of EVM is that to stop the BitTorrent DApp from working, you will have to shut down every computer using the decentralized App in every part of the world.

The development of Ethereum Virtual Machine now comes with intelligent features. One of them is the Zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine.


What Is zkEVM?

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One of the problems characterizing the Ethereum blockchain is the amount of time it takes to process and validate transactions. To reduce congestion and the long waiting time for miners to validate transactions, some Layer 2 scaling solutions were introduced to the blockchain.

These Layer 2 scaling solutions are the Optimistic (OP) Rollup and Zero-Knowledge (ZK) Rollup.

The Optimistic Rollup solution will take exactly one week for your transaction to succeed with a higher gas fee. The Zero-knowledge Rollup only takes several minutes and deducts a lower gas fee. However, it is easy to implement the Zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup compared with the Optimistic (OP) rollup.

To ensure the Ethereum blockchain functions at its optimum capacity and address the congestion issue, the Zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) was launched. The zkEVM solution combines Optimistic (OP) Rollup and Zero-knowledge rollup scaling solutions.

The benefit of the zkEVM solution to the Ethereum technology is that the Transaction per second will increase. There would be faster withdrawal time and direct compatibility with current Ethereum Virtual Machines.

The Zero Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) uses the Plonk Zero-knowledge proof to produce proofs significantly faster while utilizing minimal storage and computation resources.


Benefits Of zkEVM

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There are other benefits of the zkEVM that includes;

Firstly, The Ethereum Network will become highly efficient, and the probability of encountering network congestion will reduce drastically.

Secondly, zkEVM ensures low computational resource consumption on the Ethereum blockchain. Users of the Ethereum network and DApps deployed on the Ethereum protocol will be charged lower gas fees.

Thirdly, the waiting time for withdrawals and transactions will no longer take weeks or days. Your withdrawals will be processed in seconds or minutes.


Conclusion

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The blockchain network provides room to make changes and add features that will help strengthen the operation of the protocols leveraging the network. These features will make the Decentralized Apps easy for the users to use and enhance the operations of the platforms as well.

The Ethereum network is one of the blockchain protocols at the forefront of introducing robust upgrades and scalable features. One of those smart features that will improve scalability is zkEVM.

The zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual machine is an update and a scalability solution featured in the Ethereum 2.0 version. zkEVM is still in its active development stage, and it is expected that more smart features will be added to it before it becomes fully functional.






Author: Valentine. A, Gate.io Researcher

This article represents only the researcher's views and does not constitute any investment suggestions.

Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.