zkWASM: The VM to rule them all?
While there is a lot of excitement around zkEVMs and scaling Ethereum, little attention was paid to zkWASM during ETHDenver.
Maybe that’s just natural, considering that anything EVM is a perfect complement to the Ethereum ecosystem. In contrast, WASM is more closely associated with competing ecosystems like Cosmos (who even hosted an entire conference dedicated to CosmWASM).
But if we’ve learned anything from listening to Illia Polosukhin talk about his vision for the chain-abstracted future and from seeing Solana bro 0xMert shoutout NEAR, it’s this: tribalism is out. It doesn’t lead anywhere except for being labeled cringe.
Now, in the context of VMs, while it’s tempting to assume that the EVM will dominate, I think we’ve all seen sufficient attacks to start questioning that.
And anyway, if you’re reading this, chances are you’re closely aligned with the NEAR ecosystem, and you know that we’re powerful enough to run the entire EVM as a smart contract.
Nevertheless, if the EVM isn’t the one Virtual Machine to bring them all together, what could be?
NEAR and Polygon believe the answer is zkWASM.
What is zkWASM?
zkWASM is short for zero-knowledge Web assembly and describes a virtual environment that generates computational proof. With zkWASM, developers can execute code and then verify it without needing to re-run the entire computation.
As a zkVM, zkWASM guarantees secure and verifiable trustworthiness powered by Zero-Knowledge Proofs.
Zero-Knowledge-Proofs: interactive protocol between a prover and verifier, where the prover proves to the verifier that they are in possession of a secret without revealing the secret itself.
The VM takes the initial state, runs programs, and then computes it using the Witness to output a final state and proof. Verifiers then only have to process the proof to ensure that everything has been executed according to consensus rules. This drastically lowers computing requirements and is a main reason ZKPs have been hyped.
Why does zkWASM matter?
Why does anything matter at all? It’s a question only philosophers can answer, but if you remember that they still haven’t found a way to prove that we aren’t all just brains in a vat, maybe it’s best not to bet on them.
Fortunately, we’re more concerned with why things matter for the blockchain industry than with more profound questions about existence.
While the zk part in zkWASM is exciting as it combines off-chain computation with on-chain verification, the most significant benefit might be adding WASM as an environment to write programs in
WASM x Blockchain
WASM is one of the four web languages besides HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It’s supported by all web browsers and allows any programming languages compiling to it to run on the web. Consequently, developers who can write code that compiles to WASM greatly outnumber anyone capable of writing Solidity (and you do want senior devs on that, or else you have issues like the one below).
WASM unlocks Web3 for Web2 developers.
Not only is WASM widely adopted in Web2, but it’s also powering hundreds of millions of dollars in Web3. Cosmos considers CosmWASM the secure engine to build robust, secure dApps in its multichain ecosystem. Polkadot highlights WASM as the foundation of any decentralized system development, and Solana’s NEON EVM allows the deployment of WASM smart contracts along with native Solana contracts.
Beyond chains, Axelar and LayerZero both use WASM to facilitate cross-chain interoperability, using it to power efficient communication between chains.
zkWASM leverages the security, scalability, interoperability, and privacy benefits of zero-knowledge proofs while making them easily available to developers who have never dealt with zero-knowledge cryptography before.
NEAR and Polygon’s shared commitment to developing a zkWASM environment goes beyond tribalism in a belief that what will push the space forward is collaboration and not zero-sum thinking.
Through the collaboration with Polygon, the NEAR team’s expertise in building web experiences is coupled with Polygon’s cutting-edge zero-knowledge experts to bring us something bigger than the sum of its parts.
zkWASM might not sound like a gamechanger, but it is. We’re no believers in EVM supremacy, although there is no denying its initial network effects. What’s great about WASM is that it brings together all WASM-based chains, regardless of whether they are in the Solana, Cosmos, or Polygon ecosystem.
Once launched, zkWASM will be a new runtime that generates zk Proofs to verify correct execution and enhance the scalability and decentralization of NEAR and Polygon.
As such, zkWASM is deeply embedded in the broader NEAR vision of chain abstraction and making blockchains invisible. If there is a universal prover that various chains can leverage for their off-chain computation, providing a unified interface for users gets a whole lot easier.
In the end, this would benefit not only the teams directly involved in building the runtime but also the broader Web3 ecosystem.
Going from 0 to the first few ten thousand devs has worked all right with Solidity. But going to millions will require a new approach. NEAR has managed to abstract blockchain for thousands of its users.
Why not do similar for devs by enabling them to use cutting-edge technology with the languages they know?
That’s what zkWASM can do for Web3.
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