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Analysis of Vitalik’s Proposal to Replace Ethereum’s EVM with RISC-V: Implications and Parallels with Mitosis

Analysis of Vitalik’s Proposal to Replace Ethereum’s EVM with RISC-V: Implications and Parallels with Mitosis

In early 2025, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin introduced a bold long-term vision for the Ethereum execution layer: replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V, a standardized open-source instruction set architecture. The idea, while still in its conceptual phase, signals a fundamental shift in how smart contract platforms could operate in the future.

This article explores Vitalik’s motivations, the technical implications of moving to RISC-V, and how this proposal parallels architectural choices made in the Mitosis project — particularly in terms of modularity, scalability, and developer experience.

Why Replace the EVM?

The EVM has served Ethereum well for nearly a decade, but its design is constrained by its origins — a custom, stack-based virtual machine optimized for early blockchain experimentation. As Vitalik notes in his forum post, the EVM suffers from several limitations:

  • Poor performance for complex operations
  • Non-standard architecture that creates friction for compiler developers
  • Incompatibility with modern languages and tooling

Replacing the EVM with RISC-V — a real-world instruction set already used in hardware and low-level systems software — could allow Ethereum to benefit from decades of compiler research, optimization tools, and broader developer adoption.

Benefits of RISC-V Integration

The transition to RISC-V could introduce several advantages:

  1. Wider Language Support: Compilers for mainstream languages like Rust, C, and Go already target RISC-V. This would lower the entry barrier for developers and enable safer, more efficient smart contract development.
  2. Improved Performance and Predictability: RISC-V enables fine-grained control over gas metering and performance tuning at the instruction level.
  3. Closer to Real Hardware: This opens the door for formal verification, reproducible execution, and even the use of zero-knowledge proofs directly over machine-level code.

Risks and Challenges

Despite the appeal, the proposal is not without tradeoffs:

  • Migration Complexity: Transitioning from EVM to RISC-V would break backward compatibility unless carefully abstracted.
  • Security Concerns: Lower-level code can introduce new risks unless well-audited.
  • Tooling Maturity: Although RISC-V is growing in popularity, the Ethereum ecosystem would need new toolchains, debuggers, and runtime environments.

Parallels with Mitosis: Modularity and Future-Proof Design

Interestingly, many of the ideas Vitalik discusses — including standardization, developer-friendliness, and long-term sustainability — echo principles found in Mitosis.

Mitosis is a zk-native modular execution layer that separates concerns across specialized components. It embraces the idea that execution environments should be reprogrammable, interoperable, and provable — qualities that align with a potential shift from custom VMs (like EVM) to more standard architectures (like RISC-V).

Here’s how Mitosis complements this vision:

  • Multi-language support: Mitosis is designed to support multiple high-level languages compiled to provable bytecode. Using a standard like RISC-V would align naturally with this direction.
  • Zero-knowledge compatibility: Mitosis integrates ZKPs at the core, and using RISC-V could enhance performance of ZK proofs by allowing optimizations at the instruction level.
  • Composable infrastructure: The modular nature of Mitosis could allow different execution environments to coexist — making it a testing ground for RISC-V based VMs without risking the entire system.

A Path Forward?

Vitalik’s proposal is a long-term vision — perhaps five to ten years out — but the seeds of this transition are already being explored in ecosystems like Mitosis. As zero-knowledge cryptography, modularity, and developer ergonomics become central themes in the blockchain space, the move toward open, standardized architectures like RISC-V seems increasingly plausible.

Mitosis could serve as both an experimental playground and a real-world implementation of many of the ideas Vitalik is advocating for — offering valuable insights on how to transition from legacy execution models to something more scalable, secure, and open.

Learn more about Mitosis here

Conclusion

While the Ethereum community has only begun to discuss the RISC-V proposal, it’s clear that we’re entering a new phase of blockchain infrastructure development — one that values interoperability, efficiency, and provability. Mitosis, with its modular architecture and zk-native execution, may well be a pioneer in this transition, setting the stage for a more flexible and powerful future for smart contract platforms.

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