A look at the ETH chart from 2021-2025 will leave you saying one thing, “Can devs do something?”

Well, it looks like the devs are finally looking to do something.

On April 20, 2025, Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, posted a groundbreaking proposal on the Ethereum Magicians forum.

He proposed replacing the EVM with RISC-V. If you’re not a crypto-native, just know that this is absolutely huge news.

In this article, we’ll break down the entire proposal and also discuss how significant a change like this can be for the industry.

What is EVM?

EVM stands for Ethereum Virtual Machine. It is the engine that keeps the Ethereum supercomputer running.

The EVM is Ethereum's execution environment. It executes code consistently and securely across all nodes.

All nodes on the Ethereum network are required to run the EVM, which is a decentralized execution environment that executes smart contracts, effectively keeping the network ticking.

Simply put, it is the lifeblood of Ethereum.  

Owing to its success, several other blockchains use the same execution environment. These chains are referred to as EVM-compatible chains.

Given the depth of EVM’s proliferation, why would Vitalik propose a shift to RISC-V?

What is RISC-V?

RISC-V (pronounced “Risk five”) stands for reduced instruction set computer.

It is a free, open-source, and standardized execution environment that is more modern and flexible than the EVM.

Real-world computers, chips, and embedded systems already use RISC-V.

Why replace EVM with RISC-V?

In short, the idea is to simplify and improve the efficiency of the Ethereum execution layer, while maintaining the network’s current decentralization threshold.

In the short term, there are a bunch of EIPs (Ethereum Improvement Proposals) and other system changes that are being worked on to improve the scalability of the Ethereum network.

However, over the long run, replacing the EVM with RISC-V checks three key boxes:

• Improved efficiency
• Simplification
• Developer flexibility

Whoever has been following Vitalik’s work for a while will know how much emphasis he puts on the importance of zk-proofs and implementing them with blockchains.

It offers significant improvements in privacy, scalability, and security.

Unfortunately, the EVM is not well-suited to implementing zk technology. Hence, ‘zkEVM’ networks emerged, which essentially used a middleman called zk-provers to implement the technology with the EVM.

That being said, the current setup is highly inefficient.

With RISC-V, implementing zk technology becomes significantly easier. This, in turn, will allow the network to improve efficiency by 100x while also enhancing privacy.

Now that’s another element that Vitalik is passionate about.

Another benefit of RISC-V is that it fosters the use of custom processors, making it much easier for validators to maintain the Ethereum execution layer.

Additionally, RISC-V can be backward compatible with the EVM.

This means that old EVM contracts can continue to function as they always have, with the added benefit of being compatible with RISC-V contracts.

The RISC-V engine will also open the network to the majority of coding languages.

Currently, with EVM, developers can only code with Solidity or Vyper, but with RISC-V, they can either continue with Solidity and Vyper or choose to code in another language like Rust.

Lastly, there will be some EVM-specific operations that will become “syscalls” (or system calls) under the RISC-V engine, but the core elements like accounts, storage, and cross-contract calls will stay the same.

Pros of switching

• Developers don’t get anything taken away; there are only additions made to what’s available to them
• Improving efficiency improves the execution layer, which makes block production a more competitive market (good for decentralization)
• More coding languages mean more developers can start building on Ethereum
• Efficient implementation of zk technology enhances privacy, security, and decentralization
• Enhancing scalability will mean the Ethereum L1 can handle more user activity
• A simplified execution layer can foster more innovation and create even better on-chain applications

Cons of switching

• High-performance RISC-V hardware isn’t widely available, which could mean that some validators get priced out
• Performance regression is a concern as the current EVM can use advanced optimizations, while RISC-V is said to be lower-level from that perspective

Concluding thoughts

This proposal is ultimately a long-term thought.

The newer and trendier L1s have been eating Ethereum’s lunch despite not being as decentralized and secure.

It is clear that users prefer convenience over these ideals, but Vitalik and the core researchers at the Ethereum Foundation want to compete with the new L1s while still staying true to the core ethos of crypto as an industry.

While drastic and radical, the switch from EVM to RISC-V could just be the change Ethereum needs to get back to the top of the food chain when it comes to key on-chain metrics.