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Alt ZK solutions can save Ethereum

by admin June 22, 2025

Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial.

Ethereum (ETH) stands at a crossroads. Zero-knowledge proofs, or ZKPs for short, are set to become the backbone of a privacy-preserving, scalable blockchain future, with estimates predicting 90 billion proofs generated annually by 2030. Yet Ethereum’s main chain, even with its remarkable evolution, simply cannot handle this deluge. The gas costs and block space constraints make onchain verification completely impractical, like trying to fit an ocean through a straw.

Just as alternative data availability, or DA for short, layers like Celestia and Avail emerged to solve Ethereum’s scaling woes a few years ago, we now need alternative ZK proof verification methods to keep pace with this incoming tsunami of demand. History suggests the pragmatists will prevail.

The ZKP explosion is coming, and Ethereum isn’t ready

Zero-knowledge proofs have moved beyond niche tech to become a key pillar of blockchain privacy and scalability. From ZK-rollups powering high-throughput layer-2s to privacy-focused dApps, ZKPs are embedding themselves into the fabric of web3. Research from Protocol Labs estimates that by 2030, the number of ZK proofs generated could balloon to 90 billion annually as ZK use cases proliferate, like client-side proving on phones or AI-driven DeFi protocols. This isn’t speculation; it’s a forecast based on the accelerating adoption of ZK technology.

Here’s the rub: currently, Ethereum can’t keep up with that demand. If it dedicated every ounce of its capacity—30 million gas units per block—to verifying ZKPs (assuming 200,000 gas per proof), it could handle roughly 150 million proofs per year with roughly half-filled block space. That’s less than 0.2% of the projected 90 billion.

Even if you halve the estimate, Ethereum’s L1 is woefully inadequate for this task in its current form. Gas prices would skyrocket, turning proof verification into a luxury few could afford. While there are plans to improve the network as an environment for cryptography, the Ethereum roadmap moves slowly, and it might take years. We need a better solution to handle the incoming proof deluge.

Alt DA paved the way, and ZK proof verification can follow

Ethereum has faced scaling crises before, and the community has adapted. A few years ago, rollups emerged as a lifeline, but they hit a bottleneck: data availability. Posting transaction data to Ethereum’s L1 was costly and inefficient, threatening to choke L2 growth. The community was split—purists insisted everything stay onchain for security, while pragmatists pushed for alternative DA layers. Then projects like Celestia and Avail stepped in, offering dedicated blockchains to handle data storage off-chain and slashing costs by orders of magnitude. Despite early pushback, alt DA is now integral to the Ethereum roadmap and embraced by rollups and RaaS providers alike.

ZK proof verification faces a similar inflection point. Today’s stopgap, proof aggregation, mirrors the pre-alt-DA era’s band-aids. Aggregators batch hundreds of proofs into a single “super proof” for Ethereum verification, reducing costs but introducing latency. Some batches take hours or even a day to settle, a far cry from the instant finality ZK-rollups promise. Worse, users must trust these aggregators, which often lack skin in the game—no staked tokens, so no slashing for misbehavior.

It’s a shaky foundation for a trustless ecosystem. This is why alternative verification layers, like zkVerify, offer a blockchain-based alternative: fast, cheap, and secured by proof-of-stake incentives. The parallel to alt DA isn’t just rhetorical—it’s proven to work.

The cost of sticking to the status quo

Without alternative proof verification, the future looks grim. Verifying a single Groth16 proof on Ethereum today can cost $10 at moderate gas prices (30 gwei, $1,500 ETH). Multiply that by 90 billion, and you’re looking at a trillion-dollar problem by 2030—an absurdity no blockchain can sustain.

Even with aggregation, costs remain volatile when tied to Ethereum’s gas market, and the latency issue undermines high-throughput use cases like real-time DeFi or gaming. Purists argue that off-chain verification sacrifices security, but they’re overlooking the concessions already made: trusting aggregators with no stake, or converting STARK proofs into SNARKs for Ethereum compatibility, which add complexity and cost.

Contrast this with a modular approach. A dedicated verification chain can slash costs by 90%, while sidestepping Ethereum’s gas spikes and supporting native STARK verification. It’s not just about savings; it’s about unlocking innovation. For instance, client-side proving (where users generate proofs on their devices) could explode if verification weren’t a bottleneck. Imagine billions of phones churning out ZKPs for private identity or microtransactions; that’s what client-side proving enables. Ethereum can’t host that party, but an alt verification layer can.

Overcoming the purist pushback

The Ethereum community’s hesitation isn’t new. When alt DA debuted, critics cried foul, claiming it diluted L1’s security. Yet, the sky didn’t fall. Rollups thrived, fees plummeted, and Ethereum’s ecosystem grew stronger. Today’s ZK skeptics echo that refrain: “Verification must stay on Ethereum for trustlessness.” But trustlessness isn’t binary. Aggregators already introduce trust assumptions, and Ethereum’s precompile limitations also force trade-offs. A proof-of-stake ZKP verification chain with staked tokens and slashing mechanisms offers accountability aggregators lack. It’s not a step down from Ethereum’s security—it’s a lateral move tailored to ZK’s unique demands.

Vitalik Buterin’s early writings on ZK-SNARKs foresaw their dominance, predicting ZK-rollups would eventually outpace optimistic ones. He was right about the tech; now it’s time to scale it. The Dencun upgrade (EIP-4844) proved Ethereum can evolve with modular solutions; blobs cut DA costs dramatically. Alt ZK proof verification is the next logical step, consistent with the long-term Ethereum vision.

A call to action before the wave hits

The ZKP wave is coming, whether we’re ready or not. If a killer app sparks mass adoption, like a privacy-preserving social network or an AI-driven trading platform, Ethereum will buckle under the proof load.

We can’t wait for a crisis before taking action. Alternative ZK verification layers are becoming a necessity, and early movers like zkVerify are already building them. The Ethereum community must shed nostalgia for monolithic designs and embrace modularity, just as it did with DA.

By 2030, 90 billion proofs could redefine web3, unlocking privacy, efficiency, and scale. But only if we act now. Let’s not repeat the congestion nightmares of yesteryear. Alt ZK proof verification isn’t just a fix—it’s the future Ethereum deserves.

John Camardo

John Camardo is the VP of Product at Horizen Labs, where he leads zkVerify, a chain-agnostic modular blockchain focused on efficient zero-knowledge proof verification. With over a decade of experience in product management and data-driven innovation, John previously held senior roles at Capital One, where he identified multi-million dollar opportunities in commercial banking and led cross-functional teams to develop data-centric products. At Horizen Labs, he has progressed from Product Manager to VP, shaping the company’s ZK product strategy. John holds a Bachelor’s degree in Operations Research and Information Engineering from Cornell University and is passionate about building scalable, cryptography-powered systems that solve real-world challenges.

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June 22, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Methane Pollution Has Cheap, Effective Solutions That Aren’t Being Used

by admin June 21, 2025

And because methane is invisible and odorless, it can be difficult and expensive to monitor it and prevent it from getting out. As a result, researchers and environmental activists say the industry is likely releasing far more than official government estimates show.

Methane also seeps out from coal mines—more methane, actually, than is released during the production of natural gas, which after all is mostly methane. Ember, a clean-energy think tank, put together this great visual interactive showing how this happens.

The short version is that methane is embedded in coal deposits, and as miners dig to expose coal seams, the gas escapes, and continues to do so long after a coal mine reaches the end of its operating life. Since coal miners are focused on extracting coal, they don’t often keep track of how much methane they’re letting out, nor do regulators pay much attention.

According to Ember, methane emissions from coal mines could be 60 percent higher than official tallies. Abandoned coal mines are especially noxious, emitting more than abandoned oil and gas wells. Added up, methane emitted from coal mines around the world each year has the same warming effect on the climate as the total annual carbon dioxide emissions of India.

Alarmed by the gaps in the data, some nonprofits have taken it upon themselves to try to get a better picture of methane emissions at a global scale using ground-based sensors, aerial monitors, and even satellites. In 2024, the Environmental Defense Fund launched MethaneSAT, which carries instruments that can measure methane output from small, discrete sources over a wide area.

Ritesh Gautam, the lead scientist for MethaneSAT, explained that the project revealed some major overlooked methane emitters. Since launching, MethaneSAT has found that in the US, the bulk of methane emissions doesn’t just come from a few big oil and gas drilling sites, but from many small wells that emit less than 100 kilograms per hour.

“Marginal wells only produce 6 to 7 percent of [oil and gas] in the US, but they disproportionately account for almost 50 percent of the US oil and gas production-related emissions,” Gautam said. “These facilities only produce less than 15 barrels of oil equivalent per day, but then there are more than half a million of these just scattered around the US.”

There Are Ways to Stop Methane Emissions, but We’re Not Using Them

The good news is that many of the tools for containing methane from the energy industry are already available. “Around 70 percent of methane emissions from the fossil fuel sector could be avoided with existing technologies, often at a low cost,” according to the IEA methane report.

For the oil and gas industry, that could mean something as simple as using better fittings in pipelines to limit leaks and installing methane capture systems. And since methane is a fuel, the sale of the saved methane can offset the cost of upgrading hardware. Letting it go into the atmosphere is a waste of money and a contributor to warming.

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

RTX 4090 16-pin meltdown victims resort to DIY solutions to prevent further disaster

by admin May 24, 2025

The notorious 16-pin (12VHPWR) power connector continues to be a persistent issue for some unlucky users. While user reports of 16-pin meltdowns have diminished recently, they still occur. The most recent case involves an unlucky GeForce RTX 4090 owner who shared his experience on Reddit and presented a DIY solution to avert future incidents.

Redditor malcanore18 recounted how the 16-pin power connector on his GeForce RTX 4090 had melted. To avoid it happening in the future, the user improved his 16-pin power cable by integrating six miniature fuses. Although the solution might not be visually appealing, the underlying idea sounds plausible. If one of the pins draws too much power, the corresponding fuse will blow, causing a chain reaction for the other fuses. Although this band-aid solution may seem basic, replacing the fuses is less costly than repairing the graphics card. Another Redditor suggested using resettable fuses instead, as they can automatically reset themselves after an incident and do not require replacement like conventional fuses.

A catastrophe often unites strangers. Redditor jlodvo demonstrated that there can be multiple ways to solve a problem. Instead of fiddling with the 16-pin power connector, he addressed the issue directly. The user reportedly asked someone to remove the power connector and solder each wire directly to his graphics card. This shouldn’t pose a problem if the user has a modular power supply that allows him to disconnect the cable from the power supply end whenever he wants to remove his graphics card from the case.