- ZKsync’s Airbender Prime proved 99% of 7,200 Ethereum blocks in under 10 seconds each using one NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell GPU.
- Vitalik Buterin urged zkEVM developers to prioritize formal verification, predictable proving costs, and cryptographic security.
- Airbender Prime uses hash-based STARKs designed for post-quantum security and aims to enable independently verifiable financial infrastructure.
ZKsync has introduced Airbender Prime, an Ethereum prover that demonstrated real-time proving on a single GPU, prompting Vitalik Buterin to call for greater security focus. In testing, one NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell proved 99% of 7,200 consecutive Ethereum mainnet blocks in under 10 seconds each, including witness preparation. Every block finished within 12 seconds.
Airbender Prime Demonstrates Real-Time Ethereum Proving
ZKsync said Airbender Prime uses hash-based STARKs designed for post-quantum security. Its technology combines GKR sumcheck, WHIR polynomial commitments, and BLAKE2s hashing.
For Layer 1 proofs, the system will use Keccak-256-based commitments instead of BN254 pairings. It also follows the open RISC-V standard and includes a standalone verifier for independent proof checks.
According to ZKsync, Airbender Prime leads ETHproofs’ public leaderboard in reported average proving time, GPU efficiency, and cost. The project also has live configurations using two and four GPUs.
Vitalik Buterin Calls for Stronger zkEVM Security
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin congratulated the ZKsync team on the milestone. He said the battle for proving speed had been definitively won and argued that zkEVM development should now prioritize security.
Buterin identified three requirements for formal verification. These include proving that the arithmetization matches Ethereum’s specification, establishing a hard maximum ratio between proving costs and block gas, and verifying the proof system’s security.
His comments place attention on whether systems can demonstrate correct execution, predictable proving costs, and reliable cryptographic protections.
ZKsync Targets Independently Verifiable Financial Infrastructure
ZKsync said advances in artificial intelligence could accelerate the discovery and exploitation of software vulnerabilities. It argued that institutions need security mechanisms that banks and counterparties can verify independently.
Requiring zero-knowledge proofs for ledger updates could prevent compromised execution servers from approving updates that violate encoded rules. Airbender Prime’s lower hardware requirements could also make proof generation more accessible to institutions and independent operators.
The project aims to support independent verification across financial infrastructure. ZKsync said it plans further announcements about Airbender Prime, without providing additional details in its introduction.
