Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Crypto Journalist
Anas Hassan
Crypto Journalist
Anas Hassan
share
ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed removing a key blockchain feature he originally invented, claiming it would severely hinder the network’s scaling efforts.
The modular exponentiation precompile, known as modexpcreates verification bottlenecks up to 50 times worse than average blocks when generating zero-knowledge proofs, according to Buterin’s recent statement on X.
The proposal comes as Ethereum intensifies its push towards a infrastructure for privacy firstwhile simultaneously facing technical obstacles that prevent the adoption of the zero knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine.
Buterin recognized his role in the creation of the problematic function, saying that “he bowed his head in shame“While advocating its replacement with an equivalent computational code that would increase gas costs but drastically reduce the complexity of test generation.
The Technical Charge Holding Back Ethereum’s ZK Ambitions
Zero-knowledge EVMs generate cryptographic proofs that validate Ethereum calculations off-chain, enabling faster transaction processing without compromising security.
The proof component responsible for creating these proofs encounters exceptional difficulty with modexp operations, which are primarily used in RSA encryption and signature functions employed by minimal applications.
Buterin explained that the computational intensity of modexp creates disproportionate delays in test generation, directly slowing down rollups and layer 2 solutions designed to speed up Ethereum.
The complexity of the feature also introduces risks of consensus failure through potential edge cases and bugs that threaten network stability.
Instead of investing optimization resources in a feature that affects 0.01% of users, Buterin suggested replacing the precompile with standard EVM bytecode that achieves identical results at higher gas costs.
Applications that require modular exponentiation (modexp) functionality could instead wrap operations in SNARKs, an alternative cryptographic proof system that mitigates inefficiency.
This tradeoff prioritizes ecosystem stability and scaling progress over maintaining legacy features with narrow use cases, especially as Ethereum faces more pressing performance challenges.
The proposed Ethereum Improvement Proposal would fundamentally change how the network handles cryptographic operations that lead to zero-knowledge proof systems.
The Institutional Door Opens as Privacy Solutions Mature
At the end of October, the Ethereum Foundation Launches “Ethereum for Institutions”which provides companies and financial organizations with structured paths for blockchain adoption.
The initiative employs zero-knowledge proofs, fully homomorphic cryptography, and trusted execution environments to enable compliant, audit-ready applications on public networks.
Projects including Chainlink, RAILGUN, Aztec Network, and Zama pioneer privacy-preserving smart contracts that secure counterparty information and business logic without sacrificing transparency or composability.
These production-ready solutions meet institutional requirements to balance compliance mandates with secure and programmable finance.
Ethereum dominates real world assets and stablecoin sectors, hosting more than 75% of tokenized RWA and 60% of the global stablecoin supply.
Major financial firms, including BlackRock, Securitize and Ondo Finance, are implementing tokenized instruments that offer 24/7 settlement, transparency and composability.
Layer-2 networks such as Base, Scroll and Unichain now secure more than $50 billion in value, offering performance and cost efficiency for global-scale applications.
Privacy infrastructure will accelerate alongside technical refinements
The Ethereum Foundation launched its Privacy cluster of 47 members in October, under the coordination of Blockscout’s founder, Igor Barinov, he will expand the work started in 2018 through the Privacy and Scaling Explorations team.
The cluster addresses critical areas around surveillance, private data verification, selective identity disclosure, user experience improvement and institutional adoption support.
This initiative follows a September Rebranding of the Privacy and Scaling Explorations team to Privacy Stewards for Ethereum, shifting the focus from theoretical research to practical solutions.
The foundation warned that without robust privacy protections, Ethereum risks becoming “the backbone of global surveillance rather than global freedom“potentially driving institutions and users towards alternative platforms.
Last month, Vitalik also detailed GKRa cryptographic technique that verifies calculations ten times faster than traditional methods, while allowing zero-knowledge proofs that confirm computational accuracy without exposing the underlying data.
The protocol processes 2 million calculations per second on a standard laptop. It validates all Ethereum transactions using only fifty consumer-grade graphics cards, compared to traditional methods that require 100 times more computational work than the original calculations.
The advance is significant because it allows for faster verification, resulting in cheaper transactions and enhanced privacy in the network.
