- ZK-EVM demands extreme GPUs, raising costs to $100K+, limiting access and centralizing Ethereum power.
- Competing chains like Solana run sub-second blocks cheaply, highlighting Ethereum’s scaling and speed disadvantage.
- Governance centralization and over-engineering risk Ethereum falling behind unless decisive action is taken now.
Ethereum is facing challenges as its ZK-EVM roadmap comes under intense scrutiny. Justin Bons warns, “Ethereum is in big trouble: The crowning jewel of ETH’s roadmap is a poison pill.” According to Bons, relying on zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) introduces severe limitations, including skyrocketing hardware costs and performance bottlenecks.
The process of generating ZK proofs demands arrays of high-end GPUs, costing upwards of $100K for builders. Consequently, Ethereum risks slowing down while centralizing power among a few capable operators.
Additionally, Bons emphasizes that the linear scaling of hardware costs with demand poses long-term risks. “The cost of these builders increases linearly with the demand placed on them,” he notes. This approach shifts influence away from validators toward a small class of expensive “builders,” raising centralization concerns.
Moreover, these technical trade-offs threaten ETH’s competitiveness against faster blockchains like Solana, which can process blocks within 400 milliseconds using far cheaper hardware.
ZK-EVM: High Costs and Limited Speed
The ZK-EVM model introduces extreme hardware and time requirements. Even today, producing a proof within 12 seconds requires 24 RTX 5090 GPUs, totaling nearly $80K. Bons warns that attempting higher speeds could require 64 GPUs, exceeding $200K. He states, “Does that sound decentralized to you?” The reliance on such expensive arrays limits accessibility and may produce liveness failures if builders drop out.
Furthermore, post-quantum cryptography could exacerbate costs in the next 5–10 years. Bons stresses, “Most ZK schemes today operate at an entropy level that is not at all quantum-secure.” Hence, Ethereum faces a long-term sustainability problem if it fully commits to ZK-EVM without alternative solutions.
Governance and Market Competition Concerns
Governance centralization compounds Ethereum’s scaling issues. Bons notes, “We, the people, have no say in the matter… Ultimately, they still get to decide for everyone else.”
Meanwhile, competing chains have demonstrated sub-second block times with lower costs, making Ethereum appear slow and outdated. Solana, for example, achieves faster block times with significantly cheaper validators.
Bons concludes, “The path ETH has chosen is a losing one: Objectively unable to compete on capacity within competitive timelines and unable to compete on speed at all.” While Ethereum remains popular, Bons argues that without decisive course correction, decentralization and performance will continue to suffer.
Outlook: Urgent Need for Action
Ethereum’s future depends on addressing these structural and technical challenges. ZK-EVM over-engineering, hardware costs, and governance centralization threaten both scalability and decentralization.
Bons urges the community to confront these issues now or risk falling behind more efficient competitors. The road ahead requires balance between innovation, speed, and accessibility to maintain ETH’s market relevance.
