Vitalik Buterin proposed, through the Ethereum Magicians forum, that the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) could be replaced with a RISC-V architecture, making a fundamental change to the underlying execution layer of Ethereum and improving the virtual machine’s handling of smart contracts. The change, according to Buterin, could improve efficiency, enable long-term scalability, and simplify the execution layer. RISC-V is an open standard, free architecture that is known for its flexibility. Buterin identified various bottlenecks in the current architecture and argues that RISC-V could address many of the issues while further simplifying the execution layer. Specifically, he claims that RISC-V could enhance competition between block producers. Furthermore, the Ethereum ecosystem could be improved with more Zero-Knowledge Proofs. “This post proposes a radical idea”, wrote Buterin, “for the future of the Ethereum execution layer, one that is equally as ambitious as the beam chain effort is for the consensus layer. It aims to greatly improve the efficiency of the Ethereum execution layer, resolving one of the primary scaling bottlenecks, and can also greatly improve the execution layer’s simplicity – in fact, it is perhaps the only way to do so”. Buterin’s RISC-V proposal could increase Ethereum’s speed, making it more competitive with other blockchains, such as Solana. Some developers are excited about the change because it could strengthen Ethereum for future changes. However, the changes could be detrimental to the blockchain because they could take a year to implement, adding stress to an already vulnerable system. The changes may add to the backlog of existing changes, slowing down projects that are still in progress. Implementing RISC-V may mean that developers will need to rebuild entire sections of Ethereum from scratch. Alternatively, this may be a good thing because such a process allows for optimising the codebase, which would be difficult without a rebuild process. RISC-V would replace opcodes with syscalls. Developers could still use Vyper and Solidity with minimal interference to their workflow. Core concepts, moreover, like accounts and storage, would remain the same. RISC-V would drastically improve performance, particularly in Zero Knowledge Proofs, capable of achieving 100x improvements. EVM and RISC-V contracts would be interoperable. Buterin introduces various strategies that could be used to implement RISC-V, including a mechanism to convert older EVM contracts to RISC-V ones. Ethereum fees have recently dropped, likely due to recent market conditions. The introduction of tariffs has sent crypto and traditional markets on a downward spiral. There seems to be a pause in trading while the market decides which way it wants to move. Ethereum has dropped around 12% over the past few weeks and may drop further if traders are not convinced of Ethereum’s future development goals. Bitcoin also fell, but could be following a retracement trend before continuing its upward trajectory.