Ethereum has completed another important technological advancement. Will it achieve a breakthrough in 2026?

The zkEVM ecosystem has achieved a leap in performance after a year of hard work, with the proof time for Ethereum blocks dropping sharply from 16 minutes to 16 seconds, and the cost reduced by 45 times. The participating zkVMs can now complete 99% of the Mainnet block proofs within 10 seconds on the target hardware.

On December 18, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) announced the implementation of the real-time proof mechanism and the removal of performance bottlenecks, but emphasized that the real challenge lies in reliability. A lack of security support for speed will become a burden, and several mathematical conjectures that the zkEVM based on the STARK algorithm relies on have been disproven in recent months, leading to a decrease in security levels.

EF previously set a comprehensive real-time proof target in July, covering multiple dimensions such as latency, hardware, and security, and has now met the standards through EthProofs benchmarking.

The core shift lies in transitioning from pursuing throughput to provable security, clarifying that the L1-level zkEVM must achieve a 128-bit security standard to align with mainstream cryptographic norms, as forged proofs could lead to token forgery, L1 state tampering, and other fatal risks, making the security margin non-negotiable.

EF synchronously announces a three-phase security roadmap:

1. By the end of February 2026, all zkEVM teams must integrate their proof systems with EF's soundcalc security assessment tool to standardize security measurement criteria.
2. Achieve Glamsterdam standards by the end of May, reaching a transitional goal of 100 verifiable security levels.
3. Complete the final goal of H-star by the end of December, achieving a provably secure 128-bit level, and provide a formal security proof in the form of a recursive topology.

To achieve the goal, EF mentions core technical tools such as WHIR and JaggedPCS, which can improve efficiency by optimizing proof generation and avoiding computational power waste, while also using techniques like recursive topology to reduce proof size.

However, there are still multiple challenges. Real-time proof has not yet been implemented on the blockchain, and the actual performance of validators is questionable; security parameters need to be dynamically adjusted as mathematical conjectures are falsified; it is unknown whether some teams can meet deadlines; the formal verification projects of recursive architecture are still in the early stages, and ecological development is uneven.

It is worth noting that the zkEVM after meeting the standards can support Ethereum in increasing the Gas limit, enhancing block capacity while ensuring the feasibility of staking, promoting L1 to become a trusted settlement layer, and blurring the boundaries between L2 and L1 execution.

The performance sprint has now ended, and the core proposition of the zkEVM ecosystem has shifted to achieving sufficiently reliable security proofs without relying on fragile assumptions, to support asset scales in the hundreds of billions. The current security race has officially begun, and this will become the main theme of Ethereum in 2026.