The RISC-V zkVM race and the shift in prover economics

Prover Economics and the SP1 Launch

The SP1 mainnet launch by Succinct changes the competition in the Ethereum RISC-V zkVM market. A 68% reduction in STARK proof costs forces Scroll to rewrite its zkEVM sequencer to maintain its competitive position. Polygon is also shifting its strategy by pivoting toward an open-source Type 1 prover. This movement comes as the industry moves toward more efficient proving architectures. The Succinct Prover Network is a two-sided marketplace on Ethereum where applications submit proof requests. Independent provers compete to fulfill these requests to avoid the need for custom infrastructure. This network supports over 35 leading protocols and processes proofs from 1,700 unique programs. It has secured over $4 billion in value and fulfilled five million proofs for protocols like Mantle, Celestia, and Lido.

The ZK-EVM Hierarchy and Rollup Strategies

The ZK-EVM market consists of several distinct technological approaches. Type 1 ZK-EVMs maintain full compatibility with Ethereum without changing the original design. They inherit the security of Ethereum but face longer verification times because the original design was not built for zero-knowledge proofs. Type 2 ZK-EVMs modify some elements to increase proof generation speed while maintaining compatibility. These solutions may require changes in compilers or development environments. Type 3 ZK-EVMs, such as Polygon’s solution, combine zero-knowledge proofs with EVM compatibility. Type 4 ZK-EVMs, like Starknet, compile smart contracts directly from high-level languages into languages compatible with ZK-SNARKs. Starknet uses the Cairo language to enable flexible system functions, though this approach sacrifices some backward compatibility.

Linea is a Type 2/3 solution that supports account abstraction and maintains full EVM equivalence. Scroll is a Type 3 ZK-EVM that aims for Type 1 status. It uses zero-knowledge proofs to compress data off-chain, which means only proofs reach the on-chain environment. This process enables higher throughput for the network. Scroll’s co-founder, Ye Zhang, developed the project as a community-driven, open-source project. The project seeks to deploy on major platforms like Uniswap and Aave. It provides a full proof for everything existing, going beyond simple compatibility. Polygon provides EVM equivalence, meaning it works with all existing smart contracts and tools without code modifications. Polygon estimates its ZK Rollup approach reduces fees by 90% compared to current Ethereum Layer 1 costs. Polygon also supports over 19,000 decentralized applications and manages more than 1.6 billion total transactions. Will the shift toward Type 1 provers eventually render Type 2 and Type 4 solutions obsolete?

Engineering Trade-offs in zkVM Selection

The selection of a zkVM is a system design decision that impacts cloud compute bills and proof queue delays. You know that picking a zkVM is a hiring decision because it dictates the engineering talent your team requires. RISC Zero provides a mature zkVM platform with strong ecosystem recognition. This option suits middleware startups or enterprise crypto infrastructure teams that value vendor trust and auditability. SP1 is a high-performance zkVM built by Succinct that targets Rust-native teams. It is an attractive choice for rollup teams or DeFi backend builders who need modern architecture. Succinct provides a broader infrastructure strategy that includes proof markets and networked proving.

Because the industry is shifting from simple zero-knowledge demos to production-ready proving pipelines, teams must evaluate cloud compute bills and proof queue delays instead of chasing synthetic benchmark numbers to win. Selecting a stack based on hype is a mistake that leads to unmanageable cloud compute bills and proof queue delays. The risk of selecting a stack based on hype is high, as engineers often struggle with the integration and operational complexity of newer, less stable tools.

Technical Specifications and Market Verdict

The technical differences between these solutions create a divided market. For those needing high security for DeFi, Polygon provides a strong option with its Type 3 solution. For those prioritizing programmability and custom functions, Starknet remains a leader with its Type 4 approach. The decision between RISC Zero and SP1 often depends on whether a team prioritizes historical reputation or performance-focused engineering.

The verdict is clear: the winner of the zkVM race is the team that can maintain operational reliability while managing the economic volatility of proof generation. If you want the safest option, pick RISC Zero for its maturity. If you want performance, pick SP1. If you want infrastructure, pick Succinct.