The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, shared a new proposal during the weekend which would radically revise the system which feeds its intelligent contracts.
Buterin’s suggestion, which he published on the main forum of Ethereum developers, consists in replacing the Ethereum virtual machine, the software engine that feeds programs on the network, by RISC-V, an open source popular frame that offers integrated encryption and other advantages. .
The EVM is a key element of the underlying design of Ethereum and was considered one of the main elements that helped the network succeed in a field crowded with other blockchains. Many non -ethereum networks have used the EVM to build their own channels, as well as an increasing ecosystem of layer 2 networks built at the top of Ethereum, including the Coinbase basic chain.
The EVM has long played an essential role in the development of Ethereum. Other channels that use it can connect transparently with applications on Ethereum, and developers on EVM -based networks can more easily move to the creation of applications directly in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Buterin argued that the transition from Ethereum to a RISC-V architecture “will considerably improve the effectiveness of the Ethereum execution layer, resolving one of the bottlenecks, and can also considerably improve the simplicity of the execution layer”. (The execution layer is the part of the network that reads intelligent contracts.)
RISC-V architecture, which has experienced limited adoption in other blockchain ecosystems, such as Polkadot, could offer “100x efficiency gains” for certain types of applications, according to Buterin. These improvements could reduce network costs – for a long time as a major obstacle to adoption.
Among the main advantages of RISC-V is its native support for certain types of encryption. The transition to new architecture could, according to Buterin, be a simpler alternative to the current plan of the community, which involves rebuilding the EVM around zero knowledge cryptography.
Buterin’s proposal is something that the developers would tackle in the long term, comparable to projects such as the beam chain, which seeks to reorganize the consensual layer of Ethereum.
The RISC-V arrives at a larger moment for the Ethereum community. Recently, transaction volumes have decreased and the Ethereum token has lagged behind the larger market.
Earlier this year, the Ethereum Foundation, the main non -profit organization that supports the development of the wider Ethereum ecosystem, underwent a leadership transition to remedy the impression among the members of the community that the ecosystem had no clear roadmap and lost its lead compared to the competitors.
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