Unravel all about ZK EVM and how can you implement ZK EVM in the future.

Technologically speaking, the world has moved on at a fast pace in the last decade. While Facebook's market share reached 55% in the United Kingdom in June 2023, its parent company, Meta, launched a new social media platform on 5th July 2023. Named 'Threads'—this app is interlinked with Instagram and allows users to share posts in different formats, including texts, images and videos. 

While the software industry witnessed this welcome addition, the scaling Ethereum industry rang in the news of Virtual Machine-compatible zero-knowledge rollups from the top ZK EVM providers.

What is ZK EVM?

ZK EVM, known as Zero Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine, supports zero-knowledge proof. It is a virtual machine that implements smart contract transactions. Compatible with both the Ethereum environment and zero-knowledge proof computations—it is part of zero-knowledge rollups. With the standardisation of operations, ZK EVM works with all EVM protocols and requires no change in the line of codes. 

Building on ZK EVM, layer 2 scaling solutions lowers costs without any extra adjustments and enhances the number of transactions. This leads to layer 2 becoming more compatible with token standards, smart contract patterns and tooling. 

But what are the types of ZK EVM? How does a ZK EVM work? What does the future look like? Dive into this detailed article and get all your queries answered.

 How does the ZK EVM Work?

ZK EVM checks particular elements in each computation by developing zero-knowledge proofs. Its working consists of three foundational stages:

Bytecode access:

In this stage, the primary concern is whether the program code was loaded correctly and from the most appropriate location. 

Read-write operations:

This stage involves two questions. The first step is to find if the program attracted the right values from the storage before computation. And the second step asks if the program mentioned the output values correctly post-computation. 

Computation:

This checks whether the execution of the opcodes was done correctly. It ensures that there are no steps missed in the process.

ZK EVM Providers – A Quick Comparison

ZK rollups bundle transactions and fall under layer 2 class solutions. While there are several providers, ZK SYNC ERA has been showing massive success, hitting US$668 million with a 660% increase.  

What are the types?  

Type 1 – Fully Ethereum-equivalent:

•     Compatible with Ethereum-native applications.
•     Ethereum 1 becomes more scalable. 
•     Perfect for rollups. 

Type 2 – Fully EVM-equivalent:

•     Development becomes faster and a lot easier. 
•     Comes with a series of minor modifications.
•     Polygon Hermez and Scroll are working on these projects.

Type 2.5 – EVM-Equivalent Except for Gas Costs:

•     Gas costs might increase for particular operations.
•     Improves proving times.
•     Needs proper precautions.

Type 3 – Almost EVM-equivalent:

•     Known as almost EVM-equivalent.
•     Easier to build. 
•     Polygon ZK EVM projects belong to this category. 

Type 4 – High-Level-Language Equivalent:

•     Promotes a secure and highly-scalable Layer 2 
•     Faster prover times. 
•     Reduces cost. 

Why is ZK EVM needed? 

Improves scalability

On Ethereum Network, all transactions need to go through proper validation, after which they can be integrated into the block. ZK EVM encourages a consensus mechanism that validates all the transactions. 

Decreases expenses

Sometimes, the entire transactional process becomes highly expensive. ZK EVM decreases CALLDATA to the minimum. 

Utilise network effects

ZK EVM, which is compatible with Ethereum's infrastructure, leads to the proper management of multiple teams and projects. It ensures that Ethereum's network effects are properly utilised. 

Fast finality

ZK rollups ensure faster finality by reducing the challenge period that generally occurs in the case of traditional rollups. How does this help apart from improving capital efficiency? It also attracts liquidity. 

Closing Words

As technology continues to flourish, ZK EVM dapps will witness increased development. Thwarting the challenges of high gas fees and limited transactions, ZK EVMs maintain strict security guidelines and bring the Ethereum experience to low-cost layer 2 rollups. 

If the world needs a faster adoption of Web3, then ZK EVM is the right step and towards the right direction. With time, it will go beyond its challenges and show greater prospects. 

ZK EVM implementations, in the future, can also be used for verifying Ethereum chain and ZK rollups. ZK EVMs blend certain important features such as enhanced interoperability, privacy and security, preserve EVM compatibility and lower transaction costs by a significant amount. The compatibility component of ZK EVM allows developers to create new products based on solidity and enhanced security.