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Today, Scroll, Axiom, developer Max Gillet, and the Ethereum Foundation’s Privacy & Scaling Explorations (PSE) team announced OpenVM, an open-source zkVM framework for instant proofing.
OpenVM will be adopted by the Scroll L2 as its zkVM and plans to validate mainnet blocks in the coming months. This transitions from a currently Type-3 to a Type-1 zkEVM – the most fully Ethereum equivalent zkEVM type.
Scroll’s upgrade to a Stage-1 rollup with a fully functioning pilot system will follow shortly thereafter.
According to a press release, Scroll’s decision to design a new zkVM from the ground up was driven by the belief that many existing zkVM solutions were “monolithic” and “locked developers into vertically integrated stacks.”
OpenVM’s open-source and modular architecture would allow Scroll to introduce features without making changes to the underlying circuitry, and developers would be able to take advantage of zkVM improvements without having to change the application code.
The state of ZK
OpenVM joins a market already full of zkVMs. Unlike traditional virtual machines, zkVMs are designed to compile and execute smart contracts into zero-knowledge proofs in a secure and private manner that does not reveal any underlying data.
Today, the zkVM market includes at least a dozen different zkVMs, such as RISC Zero “RISC0” and Succinct’s “SP1.”
Source: Electric Capital
As shown in the chart below, proofs submitted to the Ethereum mainnet peaked in December 2023, largely coming from zk rollups like Linea, ZKsync, and Scroll, rather than applications. Trial volumes declined in 2024, largely due to two factors.
First, proof generation is increasingly performed in batches using recursive proof aggregation – a technique that verifies multiple proofs within a single proof – to reduce costs.
Source: zkstats.io
Second, evidence verification becomes more efficient, significantly reducing costs compared to just a year ago.
Evidence networks like Risc Zero’s “Boundless” and Fermah have also helped apps and rollups drive down the cost of ZK testing. These networks allow teams to outsource proof generation to specialized hardware vendors with ASICs and GPUs that compete to generate zk proofs cheaply.
Based on Electric Capital’s recent developer report, there are 2,054 active developers working in zk every month. The use of zk has seen tremendous growth, with the number of zk contract implementations growing from 40 over the past four years to 639 today.
