Ethereum could be one step closer to achieving 10,000 transactions per second, following the introduction of a new Ethereum scaling technology called Pico Prism.
Ethereum scaling firm Brevis announced On Wednesday a new state-of-the-art zero-knowledge Ethereum virtual machine (zkevm) for real-time validation.
The technology can now validate Ethereum blocks almost instantly using regular retail gaming processors (GPUs) instead of expensive supercomputers.
“Brevis has achieved real-time Ethereum L1 authentication using consumer-grade hardware,” the firm said, adding that it used 64 Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics cards, the current flagship model for gaming.
In a test conducted in September, Pico Prism achieved 99.6% real-time authentication in under 12 seconds. Real-time verification (RTP) means generating a cryptographic proof that a block has been executed correctly faster than new blocks are being created.
“This marks a major step towards scaling Ethereum by 100X and a future where you can prove the chain from a phone.”
Brevis has a roadmap to achieve 99% real-time proving with fewer than 16 RTX 5090 GPUs “in the next few months.”
Big step towards Ethereum scaling
This breakthrough means that verification, which was computationally expensive, finally caught up to block production speed using affordable consumer hardware, making verification practically lightweight for the first time.
Currently, each validator re-executes each transaction to validate blocks, which requires expensive hardware and creates a major bottleneck, Brevis explained.
“Real-time proving breaks this model. A proverb generates a proof, and everything proves in milliseconds.”
The path to 10,000 tps
According to Ethereum’s roadmap, validators will move from re-running transactions to verify ZK-proofs, allowing the base layer to hit 10,000 transactions per second.
“At 3x per year, scaling Ethereum L1 will reach 10k tps by April 2029,” said Ryan Sean Adams from Bankless.
Related: The Ethereum Foundation Roadmap targets ZKEVM on the Mainnet within a year
Ethereum’s Face upgradeexpected in December, will simplify real-time verification, explained Bitcoin Security Researcher Justin Drake.
“The EIP-7825 caps each transaction’s gas usage, enabling more parallel validating through subblocks,” he said before adding, “By the end of the year, several teams will validate each L1 EVM block on a 16-gpu cluster, drawing less than 10kW total.”
Phone as a Future Node
This is “a big step towards Ethereum’s future,” said The Ethereum Foundation, which added:
“ZK technology like Pico Prism will allow Ethereum to meet global demand, while remaining trustworthy and decentralized.”
“The Phone-as-a-Node Future has become real,” said tech entrepreneur Mike Warner.
Ethereum evolves into a zk-chain, said Adams, explained that Layer-1 will run on the global defi, with large blocks at 10,000 TPS, and nodes running on a phone, while Layer-2 will run everything.
This is essentially blockchain’s holy grail: massive scalability without sacrificing decentralization or security.
Magazine: Ethereum’s roadmap to 10,000 tps with ZK Tech: Dummies’ Guide
