The blockchain landscape is changing every day and moving at the very speed, efficiency, and accessibility that blockchain technology enables. Leading the charge on this evolution is ZKsync, specifically its revolutionary Airbender zkVM. Airbender isn’t your standard upgrade. Wait, there’s still more! It has the potential to totally change the paradigm by allowing you to prove Ethereum blocks in under 35 seconds! This article takes a closer look at the technology that makes this amazing accomplishment possible, what it will mean, and how developers can help lead the charge.
Unpacking Airbender: The Need for Speed
Airbender is a Zero-Knowledge Virtual Machine (zkVM). In layman’s terms, it is an open-sourced virtual machine that can produce zero-knowledge proofs. These zero-knowledge proofs enable verification of computations while keeping the input data private. This is the linchpin for both privacy and scalability in blockchain technology.
It’s the fast-moving pace of Airbender that really makes it different. Not only does it run on a single GPU, but it provides Ethereum block proofs in an incredible 35 seconds. This combined with an optimized prover architecture makes it the fastest prover of its kind in the whole zero-knowledge ecosystem. Under optimal network conditions, Ethereum finality now only takes about 12.8 minutes. OP Stack chains finalize in ~20-30 minutes. Airbender significantly reduces this time.
What makes this speed possible? Airbender represents an immersion in the RISC-V programming framework. This newer architecture has been advocated by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin as a way to replace the existing Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). RISC-V provides a more flexible and lightweight alternative, which played an important role in Airbender’s record-setting efficiency. While RISC-V itself operates at around 500hz on desktop-grade, state-of-the-art hardware, an optimized version of RISC-V within Airbender shorts some major speed-cutting corners.
The Ripple Effect: Lower Fees, Faster Finality, and More
Airbender’s speed results in real-world advantages for users and the Ethereum ecosystem at large. One of the biggest positive impacts would be saving US taxpayers potentially billions in transaction fees. In addition, with faster proving speeds, transaction fees could go down to the “fraction of a cent” level. This has some really cool, good future potential, друзья! Today, we can pursue use cases that previously proved uneconomical because of frictional costs (micropayments, hfq trading, dai socially applications).
Faster finality times are another key advantage. Shorter finality times create an overall better user experience, as transactions are confirmed and irreversible in a fraction of the time. This tradeoff is especially critical for applications that demand real-time engagement or stringent security measures.
On-device proofs Home-proving puts users in control by enabling them to create proofs locally on their devices. This helps to decentralize the process and reduce reliance on centralized infrastructure. Native real-time cross-chain UX would allow for seamless multi-network interactions, realizing a whole new world of opportunities for interoperability, collaboration and value exchange.
Airbender and the broader Ethereum ecosystem
Ethereum’s layer 2 blockchains provide a much faster and cheaper alternative for transactions on Ethereum. Unlike the other above-mentioned layer 2 blockchains, which process most of the computations off Ethereum’s mainnet, they then store the outputs back on the blockchain, growing the process with 99% lower transaction costs and saving enormous computational resources. Airbender can help improve the efficiency and scalability of L2 solutions. These enhancements will go a long way to make them even more attractive to users and app developers.
This past August 2021, Ethereum completely shifted how we determine gas fees. Now, it charges a network-determined base fee, the number of gas units needed to execute the transaction, and a priority fee. Airbender reduces the cost of proving transactions by optimizing proving transactions to use less gas. As a result, users pay less in fees.
Get Involved: Testing and Contributing to Airbender
Matter Labs, the developer firm behind ZKsync, has released Airbender as an open-source technology. This allows any interested party to review the code, test its performance in various environments, and provide public input that could enhance the code’s effectiveness. In addition to building trust, this collaborative approach is key for spurring new innovation like AI and ensuring the long-term success of the project.
We believe Airbender is a promising step towards greater adoption and higher maturity of blockchain technologies. With blazing-fast proving speeds, it’s set to transform how we use decentralized applications. It provides the promise of reduced transaction costs and improved finality times. ZKsync welcomes open-source development and encourages individuals to get involved. This new approach clears a path toward a more scalable, efficient and accessible Ethereum and blockchain ecosystem as a whole.
Test Airbender's performance: Developers can test Airbender's performance, which has demonstrated a base proving speed of ~21.8 MHz on a standardized benchmark using a single GPU.
Explore the RISC-V prover: Airbender is based on RISC-V, a newer programming framework that Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has suggested to replace the current EVM.
Join the ZKsync community: Developers can join the ZKsync community to stay updated on the latest developments and contribute to the project's growth.
Provide feedback and suggestions: By testing Airbender, developers can provide feedback and suggestions to Matter Labs, helping to improve the technology and its applications.
The Future is ZK: A Paradigm Shift
The implications of ZK proofs as a transformative tool for real-time distributed systems in general are potentially enormous. Furthermore, ZKPs (Zero-Knowledge Proofs) are what allows for private balances on Solana. Later in 2016, Zcash brought this technology to life as the first production blockchain to deploy zk technology. It used zk-SNARKs to make transactions on its network completely private.
Airbender is not just a technological breakthrough, it’s a look at the future of blockchain. As the technology matures, we’ll see a thrilling increase in adoption. With this growth, disruptive applications and use cases will develop, changing the landscape dramatically. The revolution is upon us, make no mistake though, ZKsync are the ones leading the charge.
Airbender is more than just a technological advancement, it's a glimpse into the future of blockchain. As the technology matures and adoption increases, we can expect to see even more innovative applications and use cases emerge. The revolution has begun, and ZKsync is leading the charge.
