Ethereum, a smart contract platform that powers decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and more, has recently come across a verification problem according to Vitalik Buterin, its co-founder.

In his blog he noted that the difficulty of verifying mainnet transactions can undermine the decentralized aspect of the blockchain, as not many people can run their own nodes and trust third parties instead. This is where lightweight clients come in, as well as further solutions.

Buterin proposed two solutions to layer-1 verification problems on the mainnet that should improve scalability. The first involves constraining the network and sending activity to the layer-2; this would require reducing the number of available gas per block from 15 million to 1 million. However, this could mean that existing applications would become economically unfeasible and user funds could get trapped.

The alternative solution is to use zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) to verify EVM execution of a mainnet block, as well as SNARK code to verify the consensus side. In line with this, Buterin also noted that the best path in this approach would be the open multi-zkEVM, where different clients have different implementations and wait for compatible proof before accepting a block as valid.

Buterin’s proposals demonstrate an effort to solve the mainnet's verification issue while taking scalability into account. Although they present weakness, the solutions highlight the need for a more efficient and scalable Ethereum protocol. This discussion became particularly relevant when Polygon launched its zkEVM mainnet beta and proposed to open source the technology for further developments.



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