The post Buterin, Hoskinson Clash on ZK-Proofs, ETH’s Future appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Vitalik Buterin & Charles Hoskinson debate zk-proof efficiency, sparking wider blockchain critique on X. Hoskinson slams Ethereum’s design, citing Sybil attack risks; Buterin proposes Layer-Zero zkVM. Cardano founder Hoskinson questions Ethereum’s long-term viability and Layer-2 strategy. A technical discussion on X (formerly Twitter) between Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson quickly blew up into a wider critique of blockchain design, governance, and the practical, real-world viability of zero-knowledge (zk) proof systems. It all began with a mathematical musing from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who explored the theoretical efficiency of distributing zk proof workloads across multiple provers.  A fun math aside, on the idea of splitting a large zk proving workload between multiple provers. Suppose you have N provers, and you have a proving workload that you split into N parts (so, one part per prover). You require provers to pre-register, but registration is… — vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) May 21, 2025 Buterin proposed that by using open-access registration and fault-tolerant retries, the system could achieve verification in logarithmic star time–a function that grows incredibly slowly.  Buterin’s ZK-Proof Math Sparks Hoskinson’s Real-World Rebuttal While the math was elegant, Charles Hoskinson quickly pounced on its real-world impracticalities, calling the model naive in the face of adversarial attacks, cloud failure risks, and hardware bottlenecks. Hoskinson didn’t just pick apart the math; he used the opening to paint a bigger picture of what he views as Ethereum’s systemic flaws. He argued that Buterin’s proposed retry model for zk-proofs would crumble when faced with Sybil attacks, where bad actors could spin up thousands of fake provers just to jam the network. @VitalikButerin I’ll bite. Your log*(N) retry model stumbles on real-world constraints. Open registration lets an attacker spin up thousands of provers at near zero cost, turning your 20 % failure rate into an…

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Filed under: News - @ May 22, 2025 1:24 pm