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zkEVM2026-07-08_006

L1-zkEVM Breakout #006

2026-07-08 3 decisions 462 transcript lines

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Call summary

Targets
  • •Recursive proof chain-prefix PoC spec and implementation — Francesco, coming days — 00:31:52
  • •Next zkEVM release to include both test fixtures and Geth-filled benchmark fixtures — 00:15:08
Decisions
  • •ELF loading standard adopts execute-and-read semantics for executable segments; execute-only interpretation is discouraged — 00:21:31
  • •Direction adopted: Ethereum guest programs must be built with unmodified stock toolchains to limit trusted computing base — 00:24:59
  • •Bump allocator not recommended for production guest programs due to OOM liveness risk at higher gas limits; sophisticated allocators preferred — 00:57:10
Highlights
  • Allocator Safety:
    • ·Bump allocator (BAM) is fastest but causes OOM at current ~0.5 GB limit for high-gas blocks; increasing to 1.5 GB bypasses failures but leaves little headroom — sophisticated allocators (e.g., DLmalloc) recommended for safety — 00:53:07
    • ·OpenVM 2.1 will support 4 GB of guest memory (chat: Yi Sun); most other zkVMs may not exceed 1 GB (Marcin) — 00:57:10
  • Spec And Test Updates:
    • ·zkEVM spec v0.50 released: rebased on Glamsterdam and devnet 6; supports external transition tools (Geth) for benchmark fixture filling — 00:07:21
    • ·SSZ max-length refinements in guest input will change hash tree root calculations — all implementers must review and adjust — 00:08:43
    • ·Hive dashboard now tracks ethrex and Besu execution-witness compliance plus first guest program test runs in a single view — 00:13:11
    • ·Bug fixed in Geth execution-witness generation (merged); benchmark fixtures refilled and looking correct — 00:14:04
  • Evm Formal Specification:
    • ·EVM SAIL spec (evm-sail) achieves 100% EAST test compliance; enables extraction to Lean, Isleris/Iris for binary compliance proofs and RISC-V guest program verification — 00:41:44
    • ·Goal: SAIL spec reaches feature parity with Python execution specs, allowing core devs to contribute directly to a single formal specification — 00:43:01
  • Guest Api Standardization:
    • ·8 guest API standards accepted (ISA I/O, crypto accelerators, termination, memory, static library, linker script); ELF loading and accelerated memory operations open for review — 00:19:13
    • ·ELF loading standard: recommendation is execute-and-read semantics for executable segments; execute-only (Zisk current) is discouraged as no toolchain guarantees instruction-only text sections — 00:20:13
    • ·Precompiles in static libraries must not allocate on the guest heap; a separate isolated scratch region is required — other vendors should audit for this collision — 00:24:14
    • ·Direction flagged: Ethereum guest programs should be built with stock unmodified toolchains to minimize trusted computing base — 00:24:59
  • Sync Protocol And Recursive Proofs:
    • ·Weak-subjectivity sync can require up to 113,000 slots (~26.9 GB of proof content); recursive execution proofs (SSZ Merkle tree or MMR) proposed to enable gossip-based chain-prefix authentication — 00:26:56
    • ·Recursive proof approach would simplify consensus clients by eliminating complex request-response sync; proof-of-concept spec and implementation planned imminently — 00:31:44
  • Prover Infrastructure And Benchmarking:
    • ·EF cluster scalability: GPU proving scales near-linearly from 1 to full machine on large blocks; CPU-bound bottleneck observed between 2 and 4 GPUs — 00:34:16
    • ·OOM kills still observed on mainnet EST 6M-gas blocks; root cause under investigation — 00:35:04
    • ·New ZK-Boost release adapts to current compatible input format; proof-request and verification APIs updated to require chain config as public input — 00:35:58
Action Items
  • •All guest program implementers — Review zkEVM spec v0.50 SSZ max-length changes and update hash tree root calculations accordingly — 00:08:43
  • •Nethermind and other EL teams — Add Nethermind (and other clients) to execution-witness Hive dashboard by adding a branch entry to the dashboard repo JSON — 00:18:29
  • •zkVM vendors — Audit precompile static libraries for guest-heap allocation collisions; add isolated scratch region if affected — 00:24:14

Meeting chat55

Key decisions

  • ELF loading standard adopts execute-and-read semantics for executable segments; execute-only interpretation is discouraged

    To limit trusted computing base, Ethereum guest programs must be built with unmodified stock toolchains.

  • Direction adopted: Ethereum guest programs must be built with unmodified stock toolchains to limit trusted computing base

    To limit trusted computing base, Ethereum guest programs must be built with unmodified stock toolchains.

  • Bump allocator not recommended for production guest programs due to OOM liveness risk at higher gas limits; sophisticated allocators preferred

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