Vitalik Buterin proposes replacing Ethereum’s execution layer EVM with RISC-V

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed a transformative vision to replace the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V as the primary virtual machine language for smart contracts, aiming to improve the efficiency and scalability of Ethereum's execution layer. The proposal suggests that while the basic concepts of accounts and storage will remain the same, a move to RISC-V could significantly simplify the execution layer and address key bottlenecks in scalability. By using RISC-V system calls instead of traditional EVM opcodes, the proposal envisions improved performance in areas such as state root calculation and block execution. Buterin believes that this shift could result in more than 100 times efficiency gains, particularly in optimizing the proof process for zero-knowledge Ethereum virtual machines (ZK-EVMs). The proposal outlines various implementation strategies, including support for dual virtual machines for backward compatibility and the potential conversion of existing EVM contracts to run on a RISC-V interpreter. This major change is seen as a necessary step to simplify the execution layer and facilitate Ethereum's long-term scaling goals.