ZKsync Airbender debuts: the world's fastest Open Source RISC-V ZkVM, single GPU easy verification EthereumBlock

ZKsync officially releases the brand new zkVM 'Airbender', which is a Zero-Knowledge Proof designed for high performance, scalability, and Decentralization. Airbender is not only the fastest Open Source RISC-V zkVM to date, but also outperforms competitors by several times, sparking a technological revolution in the Blockchain field. Whether it is completing sub-second Block verification on a single GPU or saving costs and enhancing the level of Decentralization, Airbender is reshaping the application landscape of zk technology.

What is ZKsync Airbender? Upgraded zkVM and Proof

Airbender is the latest zkVM (Zero-Knowledge Virtual Machine) launched by ZKsync, supporting the RISC-V instruction set, and capable of efficiently generating Zero-Knowledge Proofs for any code. It is equipped with the new modular operating system ZKsync OS, providing a more powerful execution environment and customization capability for the Elastic Network. The core adopts optimized DEEP STARK technology and supports custom machine configurations and recursive proofs.

This framework allows developers to make trade-offs in different application scenarios, such as increasing the level of Decentralization, reducing costs, or performing proof compression.

Explosive performance: Airbender has the fastest zk-SNARKs capability currently

ZKsync conducted multiple performance tests on Airbender, with results that shocked the industry. Compared to the current two major zkVMs (RiscZero and SP1 Turbo), Airbender outperforms its competitors under the same conditions:

H100 GPU base layer proof speed: 21.8 MHz (compared to 3.45 MHz of SP1 Turbo and 1.1 MHz of RiscZero)

End-to-End Proof Speed: Airbender is 2.5 to 4 times faster (compared to SP1 Turbo), 8.5 to 11 times faster (compared to RiscZero)

ZKsync Block proof time: single GPU achieves sub-second level

These tests are not limited to high-end GPUs. Airbender also demonstrates high efficiency on the economical NVIDIA L4, indicating that it can be deployed on a variety of hardware, opening up the possibility of democratizing proof.

17 seconds to solve an Ethereum Block: Single GPU achieves near real-time proof

After the combination of Airbender and ZKsync OS, the proof of average Ethereum Block on a single H100 was successfully completed, with the following speed:

Only 17 seconds (excluding recursion)

Complete process (including recursion) takes about 35 seconds

Compared to its competitor SP1 Hypercube, which requires 50 to 160 NVIDIA 4090 GPUs to complete the same task in 12 seconds, Airbender only requires one H100 to achieve similar results, saving hardware costs and significantly reducing entry barriers.

It is worth noting that due to different execution environments and storage models, the comparison results need to be carefully considered. However, it is because of this that ZKsync emphasizes the integration of the entire architecture (from zkVM to proof engine) as the key to achieving performance.

ZKsync fully switches to Airbender, reducing the cost to $0.0001 per transaction

ZKsync announced that all new chains will use Airbender as the default proof, gradually replacing the existing Boojum prover. This upgrade not only brings a significant improvement in speed, but also reduces the average proof cost of each transaction to just $0.0001, which is more than 10 times lower cost than Boojum.

Including chains such as Abstract, Sophon, GRVT, Lens, Memento will be seamlessly migrated to Airbender, and immediately enjoy these performance benefits.

Open Source, Universal Application: Not only ZKsync is available

Airbender adopts open source design, zkVM based on RISC-V architecture is not only suitable for ZKsync, but also supports proof requirements for any application. Its design allows developers to run on general consumer-grade hardware, paving the way for decentralized AI, blockchain games, identity verification, and other new applications.

Developers can now test Airbender on the ZKsync OS testnet and start developing. Although it is currently in beta, the ZKsync team has been working on optimizing the developer experience and continues to release updates.

Technical architecture and execution model detailed explanation: How to achieve ultra-fast proof?

Airbender adopts a five-layer proof process designed for flexibility and high throughput:

Witness Commitment: Generate LDE and trace commitment

Lookup & Memory Argument: Verify memory operations using lookup tables

STARK Quotient Polynomial: Convert constraints to polynomials

DEEP Polynomial Construction: Reduce proof size through batch FRI

FRI IOPP: Generate the final proximity proof

In terms of execution model, Airbender adopts the RISC-V 32I+M instruction set, and executes through a segmented fetch-decode-execute mode. It can achieve horizontal expansion through multi-stage stitching mode, and supports Kernel Mode for ZKsync OS-level logic.

Design Highlights: From hardware support to custom instructions can be adjusted

Hybrid CPU/GPU mode: can use pure CPU, single GPU, or multiple GPUs

RAM registration: All registers are managed through memory management, simplifying circuit design

Mersenne31 prime field operation: optimized arithmetic processing for STARK efficiency

Custom Precompiles support Blake2s, Blake3, and big integer operations

This update has also received the endorsement of Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum.

This article ZKsync Airbender debuts: the world's fastest Open Source RISC-V zkVM, easily verifying the earliest appearance of Ethereum Block with a single GPU, first appeared on ChainNews ABMedia.