Vitalik Buterin: Speed Battle for ZK Provers Done, Security Next

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, says the competition to make zero-knowledge proofs quick enough for the network has been won, and the focus now has to be on security. His remarks came after ZKsync claimed it can prove transactions in real time on a single graphics card.

Airbender Prime, ZKsync's new prover, generated 99% of proofs in under 10 seconds across 7,200 consecutive mainnet blocks. Those numbers, however, come from ZKsync's own assessment.

What makes faster proving important for Ethereum?

Currently, Ethereum validators rerun each transaction to verify a block. Zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, which demonstrate that a computation ran correctly without repeating it, would allow them to examine a compact proof in its place.

That change could lessen the amount of work validators do for each block. A new block appears on Ethereum every 12 seconds, and according to ZKsync, none of the blocks in its sample required that much time to prove.

According to ZKsync, Airbender Prime is ranked first on average proving time by ETHproofs, a public prover leaderboard. It further argues that the lower hardware requirement opens up proving to a wider group of institutions and independent operators.

“At this point, I consider the battle for speed to be definitively won, and the top priority for zkEVMs should shift fully to security.”

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared this view on X.

Big congratulations to the @zksync airbender team for this milestone.

At this point, I consider the battle for speed to be definitively won, and the top priority for zkEVMs should shift fully to security.

To me that means formally verifying

(i) equivalence of the…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) October 15, 2026

Apart from speed, Buterin listed three tests that zkEVMs, the systems responsible for proving Ethereum's execution, must satisfy. They need to match the Ethereum specification, place a ceiling on prover cost in relation to block gas, and stand on a sound proof system.

He wants each of them formally verified, meaning proven mathematically rather than just tested.

Can a faster prover move the price of Ethereum?

There is no direct effect. Airbender Prime is a ZKsync tool, not a change to the Ethereum protocol. Supply, fees, and staking rewards for Ethereum (ETH) are all left as they were.

Instead, any price effect would more likely arrive through sentiment about the roadmap, along with macroeconomic conditions and fund flows.

Still, what is really at stake is credibility. ZKsync markets the technology to banks, arguing that even a hacked server could not obtain verification for a ledger update that violates the rules.

A quick prover that has a vulnerability would thus work against that goal. It could now be formal verification and audits that settle which zkEVMs Ethereum is able to trust.