Vitalik Buterin suggests $1B upgrade with RISC-V for Ethereum

Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with the RISC-V instruction set architecture to enhance the network’s execution layer efficiency and speed.

In a detailed proposal dated April 20, Buterin identified key bottlenecks limiting Ethereum’s scalability, including challenges in stable data availability sampling, maintaining competitive block production, and improving zero-knowledge EVM proving.

Buterin argued that adopting RISC-V could maintain competitiveness in block production markets and significantly improve the efficiency of zero-knowledge functions critical to Ethereum’s execution layer.

“The beam chain effort holds great promise for greatly simplifying the consensus layer of Ethereum, but for the execution layer to see similar gains, this kind of radical change may be the only viable path,” he wrote.

The proposal comes amid Ethereum’s ongoing struggle to increase throughput and compete with newer monolithic blockchains such as Solana (CRYPTO:SOL) and Sui (CRYPTO:SUI).

Buterin’s analysis suggests the RISC-V implementation could yield efficiency improvements of up to 100 times, potentially transforming Ethereum’s performance.

Meanwhile, Ethereum’s network fees have declined sharply, reflecting reduced activity on the base layer.

Blob fees, which are transaction fees collected by Ethereum layer-2 scaling networks, dropped to a weekly low of 3.18 Ether in late March 2025, or about $5,000 at current values, according to data from Etherscan.

In April 2025, average transaction fees on Ethereum’s base layer dropped to about $0.16, the lowest since 2020.

Brian Quinlivan, marketing director at Santiment, attributed the fee decline to fewer users transacting directly on the base layer, instead opting for smart contracts or layer-2 solutions.

However, this shift has raised concerns about revenue generation on Ethereum’s base layer.

Layer-2 scaling solutions, while reducing costs, have also reduced the base layer’s market share and revenue, contributing to a decline in Ether’s price.

Ether’s value has fallen to historic lows and could drop further toward $1,100 if investor confidence does not improve.

At the time of reporting, the Ethereum (ETH) price was $1,639.63.