zkEVM is Coming

zkEVM is part of Ethereum zk-Rollup. It's an EVM-compatible virtual machine that supports generating Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP).

Let's review what happened in the past two weeks:

• 3-22: Taiko Alpha-2 Testnet launched

• 3-24: zkSync Era Mainnet Alpha launched

• 3-27: Polygon zkEVM Mainnet Beta launched

• 3-28: Consensys zkEVM (Linea) Testnet launched

Additionally, on 2-27, Scroll Alpha Testnet was launched.

These projects share the goal of scaling Ethereum with general-purpose zk-Rollup based on zkEVM technology.

zk Prover Progress

Proof generation is required in zkEVM, and it can be time-consuming. Optimizing algorithms, GPU acceleration, or the design of FPGA/ASICs are needed to speed up the process. The machines that run zkEVM and generate proofs are called zk provers.

Below is a zkEVM diagram.

zk Provers play a crucial role in the success of zk-Rollup projects.

Let's review the latest zk prover status in these zk-Rollup projects.

Scroll

• Testnet Alpha is live.

• The ZK proof system is halo2/plonk based and is customized based on the PSE team’s solution of the Ethereum Foundation.

• The user can't join as a prover yet.

• It had planned to open source GPU-based prover before the Mainnet, and other users can join permissionlessly.

• Github: https://github.com/scroll-tech/scroll-zkevm/

Taiko

• Testnet Alpha 2 is live.

• The ZKP system is halo2/plonk based and is customized based on the PSE team’s solution of the Ethereum Foundation.

• It supports running a permissionless prover for an example circuit with the entire proof generation and verification flow. And it targets decentralized sequencers and provers.

• Github: https://github.com/taikoxyz/zkevm-circuits

zkSync Era

• Mainnet Alpha is live.

• The ZKP system is plonk based.

• Centralized sequencers and provers right now, while zkSync has the vision to have decentralized sequencers, provers, and so on.

• Its current internal prover uses GPU to accelerate, which was rewarded in ZPrize 2022.

• Github: https://github.com/matter-labs/era-heavy-ops-service

Polygon zkEVM

• Mainnet beta is live.

• The ZKP system is STARK & SNARK based.

• It runs with a trusted prover internally.

• Github: https://github.com/0xPolygonHermez/zkevm-prover

Consensys Linea

• Testnet is live

• The ZKP system uses an innovative lattice-based prover.

• Its prover is not open to users yet.

• Github: https://github.com/ConsenSys/gnark

Challenges of zk Prover

As we can see, zk provers provide computation power, but some key differences with POW miners bring challenges for the zk-Rollup Ecosystem.

One challenge is balancing the trade-off between hardware costs and proof generation speed. While faster hardware can generate proofs faster, it can also be costly. Thus, projects need to find a balance to ensure the economic feasibility of the solution.

The second challenge is to incentivize provers to generate proofs. In zk-Rollup, provers are required to generate proofs for batches of transactions, which requires significant costs. To incentivize provers, zk projects must design an economic mechanism that rewards them.

For zk provers, there are the following challenges:

1. Layer 2 projects may have different algorithms that are still being improved.

2. Currently, zk proving is still a long-tail market.

3. There is also a risk of losing money if they have to pay transaction fees.

ZKPool’s Mission

To address these challenges, a specialized miner pool for zk provers could be beneficial. This would:

1. Aggregate the computing power of zk provers to meet the needs of zk projects;

2. Reduce the risk of provers losing money;

3. Lowering the barrier to entry for provers.

Aoraki Labs, founded in 2022, has recently announced its project ZKPool, aiming to become the best ZKP infrastructure that connects applications and accelerators, promoting the development of the whole zk-Rollup and helping the Ethereum ecosystem.

To achieve this goal, ZKPool will provide a platform for developers to access a pool of optimized accelerators for proof generation. This will allow developers to focus on designing and deploying their applications without worrying about the cost and complexity of proof generation.

In addition to providing a pool of accelerators, ZKPool will also optimize the schedule of these accelerators, ensuring that they are used efficiently.

Finally, the ZKPool will pay the transaction fees and share rewards with the provers, reducing the financial risk of the provers.

Overall, ZKPool aims to become the go-to infrastructure for zk-Rollup, especially the aggregation of ZKP computation power.

Currently, we are working with zk-Rollup projects like Taiko (See the Dashboard of Taiko) and Scroll and some other ZKP projects like Aleo.

We look forward to cooperating with more partners and promoting the development of the ZKP Ecosystem.