What is Risc-V?
RISC-V, extremely “risk Five”, is a contemporary open source lesson architecture (ISA), which relies on reduced principles of the instruction rate (RISC). In easy words, it is sort of a blueprint that defines various instructions that a processor can perform.
RISC-V is designed in such a way that it’s high modular, efficient and versatile. The open source framework was originally developed by the University of California and offers developers the flexibleness, its functionality and applications, in addition to cost savings in comparison with proprietary ISAS akin to ARM or X86. This offers quite a lot of uses, from supercomputers via smartphones and now blockchains akin to Ethereum.
On April 20, 2025, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, revealed a “radical” latest scaling proposal to interchange the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with the RISC-V command architecture as a way to increase the speed and efficiency of the implementation of the network. The idea is that RISC-V is one of the best strategy to solve the blockchain's scalability restrictions.
“It goals to significantly improve the efficiency of the Ethereum execution layer, to resolve one in all the first scaling of bottlenecks, and may also significantly improve the simplicity of the execution layer – the truth is, this would be the only strategy to do that.
The idea: Replace the EVM with RISC-V because the virtual machine language wherein intelligent contracts are written, ”said Buterin.
Ethereum remains to be with high transaction fees and reduced transaction volume, since users switch to layer 2s for cheaper and faster transactions. This corresponds to the Ethereum's scaling strategy in response to the Merge (2022). Butterin's idea of redesigning the chain is seen as a possibility so that you can modernize and keep your dominance as a top platform for intelligent contract statements.
Did you realize? Ethereum's execution layer has develop into its fundamental tip of scalability. The inefficient processing of intelligent contracts and transactions based on execution with a thread, the lavish computing design and complicated state management results in network overload.
How would RISC-V work on Ethereum?
Adding RISC-V to Ethereum remains to be a proposal that’s discussed by the community and network governance. Butterin outlines several approaches to implement the proposal, including the execution of two virtual machines (VMS) or a whole switch to RISC-V.
The first idea to support VMS would make it possible to put in writing and revers the contracts either in the present EVM model or within the RISC-V. Both varieties of contracts have access to functions akin to persistent storage, keeping ether (Eth) bales and activities and receiving calls. In addition, the contract can integrate in order that it may call one another.
An alternative approach called “radical” would change the protocol to convert existing EVM contracts. This would require that current contracts rewrite to interact with an EVM interpreter, while latest contracts are written on to RISC-V.
A serious challenge for such a drastic change is to avoid that existing decentralized applications (DAPPS) and intelligent contracts are confused. Ethereum cannot risk breaking existing contracts which have been written in the present EVM code. A short lived solution could include using an interpreter – essentially a translation layer between different calculation languages. This would enable the developers to construct with RISC-V and at the identical time make sure that ER-EVM contracts proceed to work and not using a disorder.
Did you realize? In 2022, Ethereum made a breakthrough in his energy efficiency and provided more scalability, security and sustainability. In a process that’s known as “merge”, the chain modified from a consensus mechanism (proof-of work (pow) to proof-of-stake (pos).
Important benefits of RISC-V to EVM
If RISC-V causes a big shift in Ethereum architecture, what are the benefits of these changes? In the long run, RISC-V would improve the performance and processing of Ethereum Smart Contracts.
According to the butterin, the brand new architecture could theoretically deliver efficiency gains of 100x; In reality, this number can be difficult to attain, but profits would still be considerable. The efficiency gains are sure to the suitability of RISC-V for zero-knowledge-proof systems and general smart contracts, since EVM overheads are eliminated.
It is less about replacing the EVM directly than using RISC-V as a backend for ZKEVM or similar ZK-Rollups where the detection costs dominate. The improvements to the scalability would largely come from the execution of the execution on ZK-Rollups, with risk-V optimizing the demonstration process.
RISC-V smart contracts might be carried out faster and fewer computing resources might be used. This increased efficiency would probably result in lower gas fees for end users. It would also enable the network to process more users and transactions without slowing down. This can be a direct improvement within the scalability of Ethereum and will solve one in all the biggest criticized points within the blockchain industry.
In addition, the easy, flexible instructions for RISC-V for ZK view calculations are higher than the EVM, which corresponds to the overhead of administrative tasks akin to gas accounting and state management.
Instead of rebuilding the EVM for ZK-Proofs, RISC-V offers an optimized alternative, which simplifies the event of ZK-optimized execution layers. This could speed up the Roadmap from Ethereum for privacy and scalability via ZK-Rollups, which makes RISC-V a convincing addition to the EVM.
In the next one can find a comparison table wherein an important differences and benefits of RISC-V are summarized in comparison with EVM.
Did you realize? Ethereum went through several large milestones for development in the primary decade. In 2016 specifically, it carried out a tough fork to roll back the chain after the DAO hack. The result remains to be in Ethereum and Ethereum Classic Chains, each exist.
Will RISC-V be implemented in the long run?
The proposal from Buterin triggered a full of life debate between the users and developers of Ethereum. It is an ambitious concept that might be a milestone in the event roadmap for the leading smart contract blockchain.
The programmer Ben Adams expressed several concerns in regards to the proposal: In short, the ZK project could develop into more efficient, but there might be a compromise. Block construction and execution that the intelligent contracts execute could decelerate.
“The risk here is that ZK testing could also be higher, but block formation and execution are deteriorating considerably,” commented Ben Adams.
A sense that was reproduced by one other anonymous commentator: “I agree with Ben Adams here, the EVM as a complete could be very strong on U256, in order that abstract to RISC-V would cut back the whole execution performance.”
Others agreed that RISC-V was an excellent idea to scale back bottlenecks, but questioned whether this was a priority in view of the potential technical difficulties and costs.
“Agree, it appears to be an excellent idea for the L1 that solves points 2 and three of the L1 bottlenecks. But is that this the priorities for which we would like to resolve ourselves, especially given the extent of the technical costs here?” Adam Cochran added.
It is obvious that the proposal still needs clarity and further discussions throughout the Ethereum community. While the promise is a radical simplification that promotes efficiency and speed, it also results in a fancy technical change. It is likely to be a commitment for years to rethink how the Layer 1 blockchain works.
Of course, as with every decentralized project, the green light will not be only based on technical planning. It takes the consent of the community. Bautersin has currently opened a broad conversation about impending development measures.
