Vitalik Proposes Replacing Ethereum’s EVM with RISC-V for Long-Term Scalability

In Brief:

Vitalik suggests using RISC-V architecture to upgrade Ethereum’s virtual machine.

EVM contracts will remain interoperable with new RISC-V-based contracts.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V, an open-source instruction set architecture, to address critical scalability limitations. The proposal was shared on April 20 in the Ethereum Magicians forum.

Buterin emphasized that the transition would not break existing smart contracts. Current EVM contracts will remain valid and fully interoperable with the new RISC-V environment, ensuring continuity across Ethereum’s ecosystem.

The upgrade aims to improve Ethereum’s long-term performance in areas such as data availability, block production efficiency, and compatibility with zero-knowledge EVM (ZK-EVM) proofs. RISC-V’s standardized architecture is seen as a potential solution for enabling more flexible and scalable blockchain execution.

While still in the proposal phase, this shift could mark a significant evolution in Ethereum’s technical design, opening the door to more developer-friendly and performance-optimized smart contract systems.

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