# Vitalik's New Virtual Machine

*Author: Bankless*
*Published: Apr 21, 2025*
*Source: https://www.bankless.com/fr/read/vitaliks-new-virtual-machine*

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Vitalik's New Virtual Machine 

  
  Published on April 21, 2025

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[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/2025/04/Group-14---2025-04-21T174144.062.png)](https://www.bankless.com/)- 🪂 **Zora Plans Airdrop After Weekend of 'Content Coin' Chatter.** The Coinbase-backed project has been [catching eyeballs (and critiques)](https://www.bankless.com/read/zora-plans-airdrop-after-weekend-of-content-coin-chatter) after several days of promotion by Base ecosystem lead Jesse Pollak.
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Prices as of 6pm ET
24hr
7d

 

       ![](https://banklesspublic.b-cdn.net/cmc.png)
    

  **Crypto**
   
          $2.72T
       

  
    
    ↗ 1.7%
    
  

   
    
    ↗ 1.5%
    
  

       ![](https://banklesspublic.b-cdn.net/btc.png)
    

  **BTC**
   
          $87,059
       

  
    
    ↗ 2.7%
    
  

   
    
    ↗ 2.9%
    
  

       ![](https://banklesspublic.b-cdn.net/eth.png)
    

  **ETH**
   
          $1,577
       

  
    
    ↘ 0.1%
    
  

   
    
    ↘ 2.8%  

 

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ANALYSIS

  
  
Vitalik's Virtual Machine Proposal

  
  
   
     
     Bankless Author: 
     
       [
       
Jack Inabinet](https://www.bankless.com/author/jack)
     
    
 

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/2025/04/image---2025-04-21T181853.136.png)](https://www.bankless.com/read/vitalik-proposal)Vitalik has some bold new ideas for the future of Ethereum.

With Ethereum gas prices reaching [historic lows](https://dune.com/hildobby/ethereum) after falling to mere [fractions](https://etherscan.io/gastracker) of a “gwei” for computation fees, L1 transactions can currently be completed for pennies. As a result, many onchain users have started [questioning](https://x.com/evan_van_ness/status/1911781739363475558) why they ever left the L1 in the first place, and with ETH price simultaneously underperforming relative to the monolithic competition, doubts are looming larger than ever about the viability of a “[rollup-centric](https://www.bankless.com/recapping-rollups)” roadmap.

In recent days, Ethereum leadership has started voicing support for a [strategic pivot](https://www.bankless.com/read/ethereums-strategic-pivot) that would refocus development efforts back towards L1. Piggybacking on the momentum, over the weekend, Vitalik proposed a radical solution to make base layer scalability a reality: abandoning the EVM!

*Today, we’re exploring how switching to RISC-V could help Ethereum regain its crown as crypto’s leading smart contract platform. 👇*

## ❓ What is Vitalik Proposing?
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin wants to increase transaction speeds and lower costs on the Ethereum L1 by replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V, thereby changing the virtual machine language used to write smart contracts.

Although a total redesign of Ethereum’s smart contract logic is no doubt radical, according to Buterin’s [blog post](https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/long-term-l1-execution-layer-proposal-replace-the-evm-with-risc-v/23617) in the Ethereum Magicians forum, these changes would address existing L1 scalability issues by eliminating unnecessary computation, all while retaining backwards compatibility with legacy EVM programs.

Vitalik’s proposal echoes Justin Drake’s “Beam Chain” vision for simplifying Ethereum’s consensus, and just as Beam Chain seeks to streamline Ethereum *consensus*, a RISC-V execution layer would simplify and scale *execution*, potentially resulting in 100x efficiency gains.

[Meet the Ethereum Beam Chain on BanklessEF Researcher Justin Drake’s proposed consensus layer upgrade has massive implications.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-340.png)BanklessJack Inabinet Nov 12, 2024 • 3 min read![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/thumbnail/lu.ma._an_ethereum_logo_with_a_light_prism_794e7eec-9871-4c9b-b7a8-dc937f038660-2.webp)](https://www.bankless.com/meet-the-ethereum-beam-chain)
## 💻 What is RISC-V?
RISC-V (pronounced “risk five”) is an open-source “reduced instruction set computer” (RISC) architecture that can serve as a modular blueprint for building virtual machines.

Somewhat like the Linux operating system of computer hardware, RISC-V has already been integrated by numerous top-tier chip manufacturing companies, including [Intel](https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/homepage.html) and [Arm](https://www.arm.com/products/silicon-ip-cpu), as their programming backbone of choice for CPUs.

When used in the context of a blockchain-based virtual machine, RISC-V is positioned as enjoying many advantages over the EVM, such as:

- Better performance for zero-knowledge proving
- Superior support from existing code compilers and tooling
- Generic backend that can support alternative coding languages, like Solana’s Rust and Sui’s MOVE

> wtf is risc-v and why are crypto nerds talking about it?here’s an explainer in plain english ↓ [pic.twitter.com/HjUZEDLTHY](https://t.co/HjUZEDLTHY)— binji (@binji_x) [April 21, 2025](https://twitter.com/binji_x/status/1914385122171801872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

## ✈️ Why Abandon the EVM?
The EVM has served Ethereum dutifully since the network’s inception, but it has become a cumbersome bottleneck to recent scaling ambitions. Before the L1 can be future-proofed with zero-knowledge proofs, a complete overhaul may be necessary…

Many in-production ZK-EVMs – like Polygon [Miden](https://polygon.technology/polygon-miden), Succinct [SP1](https://blog.succinct.xyz/introducing-sp1/), Risc Zero [RISC0](https://dev.risczero.com/api/zkvm/) – already compile EVM bytecode down to RISC-V under the hood; giving developers direct access to the standard would yield dividends by further reducing proving times and enhancing coding language flexibility.

Additionally, removing deeply ingrained EVM technical debt, like the smart contract deletion “SELFDESTRUCT” functionality, may require switching to a new virtual machine.

Implementing a ZK-ready backend appears to be the best solution to simplify Ethereum’s execution layer, and when coupled with the ability to support more coding languages, the switch to RISC-V stands to be a paradigm shift that establishes Ethereum as a clear leader in next-generation blockchain technology.

> New [@VitalikButerin](https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) blog post on replacing the EVM with RISC-V in the long-term.I am a huge fan of this direction for Ethereum's execution layer.Today, RISC-V zkVMs like SP1 are the clear endgame solution for "ZK-ifying" Ethereum and quickly becoming the de-facto solution for… [pic.twitter.com/yFBojIheqC](https://t.co/yFBojIheqC)— Uma Roy (@pumatheuma) [April 20, 2025](https://twitter.com/pumatheuma/status/1913938547301863630?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

[Read this on Bankless](https://www.bankless.com/read/vitalik-proposal)
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