Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has unveiled the Goldwasser-Kalai-Rothblum (GKR) protocol, a new method designed to make blockchain verification faster and more efficient. The protocol improves how Ethereum validates transactions, allowing the process to run smoothly on ordinary laptops and consumer GPUs instead of high-powered equipment.
According to an official blog post, the GKR protocol reduces the computational workload involved in verifying data. Rather than checking every step of a calculation, it focuses only on the initial data and outcome. This method streamlines performance and makes it easier to handle complex tasks like data analysis or encrypted computations.
GKR is the sumcheck protocol, which verifies large mathematical processes by converting them into smaller random checks. The GKR method applies this process, simply by allowing computations to be verified without revealing every detail. This structure improves speed and scalability, and allows Ethereum to process more data with less effort.
Buterin explained further that aside from the GKR protocol improving computation processes, it also helps verification processes of the Poseidon2 hash function. By allowing these steps to run simultaneously, the GKR system shortens processing time and improves efficiency.
On X (formerly Twitter), Buterin urged greater performance transparency in zero-knowledge (ZK) systems, stating, “I wish more ZK and FHE people would give their overhead as a ratio.” He noted that clear comparisons between cryptographic and raw computation times would help measure progress.
Buterin also referenced Fusaka, an upcoming Ethereum feature aimed at easing blob congestion using PeerDAS, which allows nodes to verify large datasets without downloading them.
The GKR protocol marks a huge improvement in how Ethereum manages computation by reducing heavy processing demands and making Ethereum more efficient and sustainable in the long run.
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