ZkEVM Bridges Zero-Knowledge Proofs with Ethereum Virtual Machine
The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) has been around since 2015, designed to run smart contracts. However, it was not built to produce cryptographic proofs. Zero-knowledge proofs were created to verify computations privately and cheaply, without knowing what an opcode is.
For years, the EVM and zero-knowledge proofs seemed incompatible, but engineers finally figured out how to combine them, creating ZkEVM (Zero-Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine). This innovation allows for running Ethereum-compatible smart contracts while generating a proof that it executed correctly using zero-knowledge protocols.
ZkEVM has significant benefits, enabling fast and cheap transaction settlement back on the mainnet. Developers can deploy existing Solidity contracts with little to no modification, and users benefit from Ethereum's security guarantees without paying high gas prices.