TL;DR
- Airbender offers lightning-fast open-source RISC-V zk proofs, providing sub-second verification for ZKsync blocks and full proofs in just 3 seconds on a single GPU, showcasing a 4–6× speed improvement.
- Proving Ethereum blocks now takes under 35 seconds (17 seconds in lean mode) on one H100, eliminating the need for 50–160 GPU farms and reducing proof costs to ~$0.0001, enabling micropayments, HFT, and real-time dApps.
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Designed for consumer hardware and utilizing ZKsync OS’s modular zkVM, Airbender supports home-proving, light-client proofs, and wide adoption across new ZKsync chains, driving low-latency blockchain applications.
ZKsync is gaining traction with Airbender, the latest high-performance zero-knowledge prover built on a RISC-V zkVM. Launched today, Airbender sets new benchmarks and enables truly decentralized, real-time blockchain applications without the need for massive GPU farms.
Ready to prove Ethereum in seconds on a single GPU?
Introducing ZKsync Airbender:
The world’s fastest open-source RISC-V zkVM ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/8OZBmhUjRo
— ZKsync (∎, ∆) (@zksync) June 24, 2025
Introducing the Fastest Open-Source Prover
Airbender isn’t just any zkVM – it’s the fastest open-source RISC-V proving system available. In direct comparisons with leading competitors, Airbender achieved sub-second proofs for ZKsync blocks and delivered full proofs in only three seconds on a single standard GPU.
On NVIDIA H100 hardware, it achieved an impressive 21.8 million cycles per second at the base layer and 8.5 million end-to-end, showcasing a 4–6× speed increase over rival systems.
Setting New Performance Standards
Besides its speed, Airbender demonstrates remarkable efficiency when proving Ethereum blocks. Using a single H100 GPU, average block proofs were completed in under 35 seconds, with lean configuration tests proving blocks in just 17 seconds without recursive steps.
For comparison, current setups require 50–160 GPUs to achieve similar results. These performance enhancements translate directly into lower fees, with proof costs dropping to around $0.0001 per transfer, enabling use cases like micropayments, high-frequency trading, and decentralized social applications.
Revolutionizing Real-Time Proving at Home
Airbender’s architecture brings the concept of home-proving closer to reality. Developers can generate proofs on consumer-grade hardware, operate light clients with local proof generation, and develop dApps that settle transactions instantly. By combining ZKsync OS, a modular execution environment, with Airbender’s optimized DEEP STARK/FRI architecture, teams can customize proof pipelines for speed, compression, or decentralization.
Expanding the Airbender Ecosystem
All upcoming ZKsync Chains, such as Abstract, Sophon, GRVT, Lens, and Memento, will integrate Airbender, experiencing immediate cost savings and speed enhancements. Its foundation on open-source RISC-V encourages innovators to extend beyond ZKsync: gaming platforms, identity solutions, and decentralized AI networks can incorporate Airbender proofs for dependable, low-latency operations.
While still in beta, developers are already experimenting with Airbender’s flexible proving pipeline, featuring five finely tuned stages from witness commitment to FRI proof generation. With ongoing optimizations in the pipeline, Airbender is poised to redefine how blockchains prove and settle in the era of zero knowledge.