Here we report on the progress of the leading builders in the zkVM ecosystem, documenting recent significant releases, technical breakthroughs and general updates.
Featuring: @ligero_inc, @0xLita, @0xMiden, @NexusLabs, @powdr_labs, @RiscZero/@boundless_xyz, @SuccinctLabs, @ziskvm, & @ProjectZKM
@ligero_inc announced that Professor @SmartCryptology has joined as an advisor: https://x.com/ligero_inc/status/1968720130378187226
Nigel Smart is a leading figure in cryptography, co-founding Unbound Security, Identum, and the Real World Cryptography conference.
A professor at KU Leuven’s COSIC group and IACR fellow, he brings expertise in elliptic curve cryptography, FHE, and MPC to support Ligero’s ZK systems.
@0xLita team has released Valida zkVM 1.0, its first major stable version: https://lita.foundation/blog/introducing-valida-zkvm-1-0
The update brings faster performance with parallel proof generation, improvements to the fast-run mode, and stronger correctness checks. Enhancements in the compiler toolchain include LLDB debugger support and optimized code generation for more efficient execution and smaller proofs.
Columbia University’s Hideaki Takahashi contributed fixes to critical soundness issues, strengthening opcode flag checks, program consistency, and STOP-instruction enforcement.
@0xMiden team has released a new testnet update introducing several user-facing features and protocol upgrades: https://miden.xyz/resource/blog/testnet-september-2025
Highlights include multi-signature support for collaborative asset management, a new Address struct to simplify private note transfers, and the first release of a Rust compiler for end-to-end smart contract development. The update also adds asynchronous transaction execution, improved error handling, and parallelized cryptographic operations.
While still in alpha, the release aims to enhance usability and developer tooling for private asset management.
Tech
@NexusLabs has released its 9.19.25 changelog, highlighting key protocol and network updates: https://blog.nexus.xyz/nexus-changelog-9-19-25/
In summary, it includes:
• Adaptive proving added to L1 and CLI, with nodes promoted across six task levels for higher rewards.
• Manual control over proving remains available through the --max-difficulty flag.
• Nexus OS launched Proving Quests to educate and reward contributors.
• Network stats now display verifiable throughput, which grew by more than 25 million percent in a year.
• zkVM improvements continue, focusing on modular constraints and reliability.
Ecosystem
Nexus also shared its latest ecosystem update, highlighting progress and upcoming plans as the project moves toward mainnet launch: https://blog.nexus.xyz/nexus-ecosystem-update/
Highlights:
• Testnet III reached over 3 million verified users, 6.7 million prover nodes, and 24 million transactions.
• Nearly 100 partners now support Nexus across AI, finance, and ZK technology.
• Collaborations include @StarkWareLtd, @onyxdotbond, @dynamic_xyz, @Snag_Solutions, and @babylonlabs_io.
• Activities span 90% of countries and 1,277 cities worldwide.
• Mainnet launch is targeted for late 2025, aiming to deliver a decentralized, verifiable supercomputer.
@powdr_labs has reported progress on 'autoprecompiles', a method to automatically generate @ethereum precompiles: https://powdr.org/blog/accelerating-ethereum-with-autoprecompiles
Tests show they can outperform or match manually written precompiles for Keccak, SHA256, and 256-bit arithmetic, while elliptic curve operations still favor manual implementations. In real-world Ethereum block verification, autoprecompiles deliver up to a 1.37x speedup with recursion and 1.84x without it.
Their researchers believe continued improvements could double verification speed while reducing engineering overhead and security risks.
Mainnet
@RiscZero's @boundless_xyz has launched its Mainnet, introducing Proof of Verifiable Work and ZK Coin: https://boundless.network/blog/mainnet-is-live
The protocol uses ZKPs to scale blockchains like the internet, with provers earning ZKC by generating proofs rather than mining blocks.
Over 2,500 provers and 411,000 participants joined during beta testing, backed by partnerships with networks such as @ethereum, @solana, and @Optimism. Boundless now enables cross-chain apps secured by ZKC.
Staking
Boundless introduced protocol staking, enabling participants to help secure the network, earn rewards, and take part in governance: https://x.com/boundless_xyz/status/1969037738729943237
Stakers receive a portion of 25% of emissions released every 48 hours, with higher returns possible while adoption is low. Provers increase their earning capacity through the size of their stake, while voting power is secured by non-transferable NFTs tied to governance rights.
Events
@boundless_xyz & @HouseofZK, in partnership with @googlecloud, co-hosted Verifying Intelligence during @token2049 week in Singapore. The Boundless team actively participated in the program:
• Community Lead @kashviETH hosted a panel including @FormallyJon of @VeridiseInc, @raindylu of @OntologyNetwork, @stakedeve of @aztecnetwork, and @remi_gai of @inconetwork.
They discussed how ZKPs can enable private data verification while coexisting with compliance frameworks, exploring the balance between confidentiality and regulation: https://x.com/HouseofZK/status/1970784492898914306
• @ssh_nkar, CEO of Boundless, joined a panel @provenauthority of @billions_ntwk, @anuragarjun of @AvailProject, @no89thkey of @brevis_zk, and @sd_eigen of @ProjectZKM.
They discussed the challenges of scaling ZKPs to global adoption, focusing on performance, decentralization, and standards: https://x.com/HouseofZK/status/1970085221753131116
• Shiv later delivered a keynote, “Boundless: Bringing ZK to Every Chain", where he presented Boundless’s vision for enabling ZK technology to power interoperability and adoption across multiple blockchain networks. He also took part in “The Whitepaper Reading Sessions”, co-hosted by House of ZK and @WPReadingClub.
@SuccinctLabs has brought its OP Succinct technology to @Mantle_Official mainnet, powering the world’s largest ZK Rollup with more than $2 billion secured: https://blog.succinct.xyz/mantle/
The upgrade enables one-hour finality, six-hour withdrawals, and proving costs starting at $0.002 per transaction.
By adopting OP Succinct, Mantle advances its Liquidity Chain vision, aiming to create a secure, cost-efficient environment for DeFi, real-world assets, and institutional adoption with seamless @ethereum compatibility.
Tech
@NethermindEth announced progress on its path to ZK readiness for @ethereum: https://nethermind.io/blog/road-to-zk-implementation-nethermind-clients-path-to-proofs
The team has completed key milestones including execution witness, stateless block replay, minimal RISC-V64 binaries, and patched .NET compilation. Work is now underway to integrate with @ziskvm, enabling end-to-end proof generation of small blocks.
Future steps include riscv32 support and integration with RISC0 by @RiscZero and SP1 by @SuccinctLabs zkVMs.
Ethproofs
ZisK is now reporting in @eth_proofs blocks using a single RTX 4090: https://x.com/ziskvm/status/1967944974512820706
The open-source zkVM offers 128-bit security, with fully reproducible results, ensuring transparent and consistent performance data for zkVM comparisons. More details available at http://ethproofs.org.
zkVM Evaluation
@ProjectZKM reported that @TheProofLab has completed an independent evaluation of Ziren v1.1.4, reviewing its VM, distributed prover, and WASM verifier: https://zkm.io/blog/an-independent-evaluation-of-ziren-v1-1-4
The report validated the system’s MIPS32r2-based design, STARK backend with optional SNARK wrapping, and browser-level verification, while noting strong GPU-accelerated performance and distributed proving capabilities.
ProofLab characterizes Ziren as beta, citing evolving APIs, missing audits, and non-open GPU code. Recommendations include audits, deployment guidance, and transparency measures ahead of upcoming v1.2 and v1.3 releases.
Publications
ZKM shared an article explaining its history and role in powering @GOATRollup, a Bitcoin L2 offering sustainable BTC yield: https://zkm.io/blog/zkm-goat-network-an-end-to-end-stack-for-bitcoin-scaling
GOAT uses Ziren for state transitions, bridge security, and low-latency proofs, making it the first full-scale production deployment using ZKM's tech stack.
