ZkSync's Airbender team achieves prover milestone, Vitalik Buterin comments

zkSync: ZKsync is a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum that employs zero-knowledge proofs to enable fast, low-cost transactions while maintaining security and compatibility with the Ethereum ecosystem. It develops modular infrastructure including the ZK Stack for custom chains and focuses on advancing ZK technology for broader blockchain adoption. In this news, ZKsync's Airbender team achieved a key prover milestone that prompted commentary on shifting zkEVM priorities toward formal verification and security. airbender team: The Airbender team at ZKsync develops and maintains the Airbender proof system, a next-generation RISC-V based prover designed for efficient zero-knowledge proofs of execution. The team recently released Airbender Prime, advancing real-time proving capabilities on standard hardware while emphasizing post-quantum security features. Their milestone directly prompted Vitalik Buterin's public congratulations and call to prioritize security formal verification in zkEVM development. Technology Focus: Airbender Prime uses hash-based STARKs with GKR sumcheck, WHIR polynomial commitments, and BLAKE2s hashing for post-quantum security and standalone verification. Milestone Achievement: ZKsync's Airbender team introduced Airbender Prime as the first Ethereum prover to demonstrate real-time proving on a single GPU. Industry Priority Shift: With speed benchmarks considered achieved in zkEVM development, focus has moved to formal verification of arithmetization equivalence, prover cost bounds, and proof system security.