Kakarot is a zkEVM project that aims to bring the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to Starknet, a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, while providing provable transactions and blocks 12 . The project is named after the protagonist of the popular anime Dragon Ball Z 3.
The development of Kakarot, a groundbreaking zkEVM built on the CairoVM, marks a significant milestone in the world of blockchain technology 1. This project, initiated in October 2022, set out with several ambitious goals: open-source collaboration, a streamlined codebase, and the creation of a zkEVM with less than 10,000 lines of code. Surpassing expectations, the Kakarot team achieved these objectives in just six months and released a testnet by the end of summer 2023 1.
To fully comprehend the implications of Kakarot, it’s crucial to understand the CairoVM, a virtual machine that enables provable execution. As the foundational technology behind Starknet, a general-purpose Layer 2 (L2) validity rollup in the Ethereum ecosystem, the CairoVM’s unique feature lies in representing execution as polynomials. This representation allows every transaction on Starknet to be proven using STARKs, eliminating the need for developers to construct circuits. In this context, developers utilize the Cairo programming language to build decentralised applications (dApps) that are both efficient and verifiable
The idea to rewrite the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) in Cairo and potentially create a zkEVM originated from Shahar Papini, co-inventor of Cairo. His notion was simple but powerful: by leveraging the well-established and mature architecture of the EVM — comprising 142 opcodes, 9 precompiles, and a democratic process for opcode updates — could one obtain a zkEVM “for free”? The answer, as it turns out, is a resounding yes
Kakarot has achieved 100% bytecode equivalence, reaching the level of a type 3 zkEVM, and has successfully implemented 8 out of 9 EVM precompiles 1. As of May 2023, Kakarot has more than 40 unique contributors, a testament to the enduring values of the project 1.