Ethereum Foundation Maps Path To zkEVM Proofs On Mainnet L1

The Ethereum Foundation has revealed a step-by-step plan to let Ethereum’s primary chain validate blocks utilizing zkEVM proofs, decreasing the necessity for validators to re-run each computation themselves. The proposal, shared by way of X on Jan. 15 by Tomasz Ok. Stańczak, Co-Executive Director on the Ethereum Foundation, lays out the engineering work wanted throughout Ethereum’s execution and consensus shoppers, plus new proving infrastructure and safety processes.

zkEVM on L1 – the planhttps://t.co/KLz7PoH6q9

— Tomasz Ok. Stańczak (@tkstanczak) January 15, 2026

Ethereum L1 Moves Toward zk Proof-Based Validation

Already in July final 12 months, the Ethereum Foundation announced its “zk-first” approach. Today, Ethereum’s validators sometimes examine a block by re-executing the transactions and evaluating outcomes. The plan proposes an alternate: validators might confirm a cryptographic proof that the block’s execution was appropriate.

The doc summarizes the meant pipeline in plain phrases: an execution consumer produces a compact “witness” package deal for a block, a standardized zkEVM program makes use of that package deal to generate a proof of appropriate execution, and consensus shoppers confirm that proof throughout block validation.

The first milestone is creating an “ExecutionWitness,” a per-block knowledge construction containing the data wanted to validate execution with out re-running it. The plan requires a proper witness format in Ethereum’s execution specs, conformance assessments, and a standardized RPC endpoint. It notes that the present debug_executionWitness endpoint is already “being utilized in manufacturing by Optimism’s Kona,” whereas suggesting a extra zk-friendly endpoint could also be wanted.

A key dependency is including higher monitoring of which components of state a block touches, by way of Block Level Access Lists (BALs). The doc says that as of November 2025, this work was not handled as pressing sufficient to be backported to earlier forks.

The subsequent milestone is a “zkEVM visitor program,” described as stateless validation logic that checks whether or not a block produces a sound state transition when mixed with its witness. The plan emphasizes reproducible builds and compiling to standardized targets so assumptions are express and verifiable.

Beyond Ethereum-specific code, the plan goals to standardize the interface between zkVMs and the visitor program: frequent targets, frequent methods to entry precompiles and I/O, and agreed assumptions about how packages are loaded and executed.

On the consensus facet, the roadmap requires modifications so consensus shoppers can settle for zk proofs as a part of beacon block validation, with accompanying specs, check vectors, and an inner rollout plan. The doc additionally flags execution payload availability as necessary, together with an method that would contain “placing the block in blobs.”

The proposal treats proof era as an operational downside as a lot as a protocol one. It contains milestones to combine zkVMs into EF tooling comparable to Ethproofs and Ere, check GPU setups (together with “zkboost”), and monitor reliability and bottlenecks.

Benchmarking is framed as ongoing work, with express targets like measuring witness era time, proof creation and verification time, and the community affect of proof propagation. Those measurements might feed into future fuel repricing proposals for zk-heavy workloads.

Security can also be marked as perpetual, with plans for formal specs, monitoring, supply-chain controls like reproducible builds and artifact signing, and a documented belief and menace mannequin. The doc proposes a “go/no-go framework” for deciding when proof methods are mature sufficient for broader use.

One exterior dependency stands out: ePBS, which the doc describes as needed to provide provers extra time. Without it, the plan says the prover has “1–2 seconds” to create a proof; with it, “6–9 seconds.” The doc provides a two-sentence framing that captures the urgency: “This will not be a undertaking that we’re engaged on. However, it’s an optimization that we’d like.” It expects ePBS to be deployed in “Glamsterdam,” focused for mid-2026.

If these milestones land, Ethereum could be moving toward proof-based validation as a sensible choice on L1, whereas the timing and operational complexity of proving stay the gating components.

At press time, ETH traded at $3,300.