The zero-knowledge technology company =nil; Foundation has announced the development of a new zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) compiler designed to address security concerns identified in similar ZK-supported Ethereum scaling solutions. =nil; Foundation CEO and co-founder Misha Komarov stated that the technology prioritizes security and allows high-level programming code to be automatically compiled into Zero-knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (zk-SNARKs) circuits.
The company’s zkEVM infrastructure is designed to be compatible with Ethereum’s core execution environment’s C++ version, evmone. The main inference here is the processing of application codes and gathering them as proofs presented in the same format as Ethereum’s EVM.
Compatibility, which is ensured by having the same bytecode, is being touted for providing better security and faster deployment by eliminating the need for long and expensive code audits. This approach also provides transactions and smart contracts that are directly compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
Several notable zkEVM solutions were launched in 2023. These Layer-2 protocols aim to help Ethereum handle large transaction loads and smart contract functions. In this field, companies like Consensys, Polygon, StarkWare, and Matter Labs have attracted users’ attention by introducing ZK-rollup solutions to provide decentralized applications, services, and network users with high efficiency and low fees.
As Komarov explained, =nil; Foundation’s solution relies on an automatic compiler, unlike other zkEVMs that manually define circuits. Komarov described current approaches as time-intensive and overly complex, emphasizing that they also bring the risk of human error.
These concerns were clearly seen when a solidity flaw was discovered in ZK circuits used in Matter Labs’ zkSync Era network. Security firm ChainLight received a 50,000 USD Coin reward from the company for detecting the security vulnerability in September 2023.
The addressed flaw would have allowed an attacker to produce proofs for invalidly executed blocks that Ethereum’s smart contract verifier would accept. Matter Labs made a correction and awarded ChainLight with a bug bounty, the first reward claimed for a ZK circuit error in the zkSync Era network.
