We have come a long way from smart contracts to sidechains and rollups before reaching zkEVM technology as the potential solution to the blockchain scalability problem. This problem has been at the core of most of the blockchain innovation we have seen in the past couple of years.
ZK-Rollup technology has emerged as a strong contender for scaling the blockchain, lowering transaction costs, and improving throughput.
What Makes ZK-Rollups Unique?
ZK-rollups are unique in that they execute transactions faster than their optimistic neighbors because they do not have to use the delay period mechanism that optimistic rollups adopted. Instead, ZK-rollups use Ethereum smart contracts to generate cryptographic proofs that verify that their transactions, usually in a batch, were genuine, valid, and completed in accordance with the base layer's protocol.
Besides, ZK-rollups with EVM compatibility requires a code execution environment that supports EVM bytecode. Therefore, it enables Ethereum developers to migrate their smart contracts from Ethereum to rollups without having to write code from scratch.
What is zkEVM?
In full, zkEVM means zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine. A zkEVM is an EVM-compatible virtual machine that supports zero-knowledge-proof computation. Unlike regular virtual machines, a zkEVM proves the correctness of program execution, including the validity of inputs and outputs used in operation.
The zkEVM generates zero-knowledge proofs to verify various elements in each computation:
Bytecode Access: Was the appropriate program code loaded correctly from the right address?
Read-Write Operations: a. Did the program fetch the right values from stack/memory/storage before the computation? b. Did the program write the correct output values to the stack/memory/storage after completing execution?
Computation- Were the opcodes executed correctly (i.e., one after the other, without skipping steps)?
Different types of zkEVM exist and include;
Polygon zkEVM
zkSync zkEVM
Scroll zkEVM
AppliedZKP zkEVM
Advantages of a Fully Operational zkEVM
It Secures Scalability- Ethereum's throughput difficulties can be resolved using EVM-compatible ZK-rollups without compromising network security.
Cheaper Cost- zkEVMs will reduce transaction costs. Since the veracity of state transition is already ensured by validity proofs, ZK-rollups can afford to post less information to Ethereum.
zkEVM ensures faster finality and capital efficiency.
Network Effect- Utilizing the network effect is the main motivation behind the creation of zkEVMs. Besides, as the world's largest smart contract platform, Ethereum offers a sizeable ecosystem that benefits developers and projects.
However, zkEVM can be, at times, difficult. As EVM is not built with zk-proof computation, it has unfriendly features for proving circuits. Some features that make it difficult include special opcodes, stack-based architecture, storage overhead, and proving cost.
Bottomline
Building a fully functional zkEVM will encourage the development of EVM-compatible ZK-rollup projects. The technology will reduce transaction costs and greatly increase throughput on layer2 roll-ups which inherit the security of Ethereum.
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