In a significant development for the blockchain ecosystem, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has announced that the integration of zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines (ZK-EVMs) and PeerDAS has reached production-grade performance, marking a pivotal moment for the network. This milestone, achieved during the alpha stage, indicates that Ethereum is now capable of addressing the longstanding blockchain trilemma—decentralization, consensus, and high bandwidth—simultaneously.
This breakthrough follows nearly a decade of extensive research and development. Buterin emphasized that the combination of ZK-EVMs and PeerDAS represents a fundamental shift for the Ethereum network, moving beyond earlier peer-to-peer models. He highlighted that while BitTorrent achieved high bandwidth and decentralization, it lacked effective consensus mechanisms. Conversely, Bitcoin offered decentralization and consensus but struggled with bandwidth limitations due to its replicated structure. Ethereum”s recent advancements enable it to integrate all three elements effectively.
Buterin”s announcement underlined the practical implications of live running code, rather than mere theoretical frameworks. With PeerDAS actively functioning on the Ethereum mainnet, it provides essential data availability sampling capabilities. The ZK-EVMs have successfully reached a level of performance that allows for the processing of significantly larger amounts of data while ensuring security and maintaining decentralization. The ongoing work now focuses on enhancing safety measures.
This technical achievement caps a journey that began around 2015, with early research into data availability sampling followed by the initiation of ZK-EVM development around 2020. Buterin shared insights from his initial GitHub commit on data availability and erasure coding, illustrating the extended timeline and collaborative effort that led to this point.
Looking ahead, Ethereum”s roadmap outlines significant milestones through 2030, with gas limit increases anticipated to commence in 2026. This will occur independently of ZK-EVM requirements via Balanced Gas Limits (BALs) and enhanced Proposer-Bidder Separation (ePBS). The next phase will introduce initial opportunities for running ZK-EVM nodes, aimed at expanding capacity while preserving network stability.
Between 2026 and 2028, Ethereum will implement gas repricings and structural modifications to improve operational safety. These incremental changes will facilitate a gradual adaptation of the network, avoiding disruptive upgrades. From 2027 to 2030, ZK-EVMs are set to become the primary method for block validation, enabling further gas limit increases.
Buterin also addressed the long-term goal of distributed block building to mitigate centralization risks by preventing the full constitution of blocks in a single location. This objective may be realized through in-protocol solutions or distributed builder marketplaces, which aim to enhance geographical fairness in transaction inclusion.
The advancements represented by ZK-EVMs and PeerDAS herald a new era for Ethereum, positioning it to support significantly higher transaction throughput while addressing critical challenges in the blockchain space.
