Linea pivots to RISC-V after 3 years of EVM arithmetization, aiming to simplify zk proving, boost performance, and align with Ethereum’s evolving roadmap

Three years of EVM arithmetization work thrown out for RISC-V is either the most honest pivot in L2 history or the most expensive admission that zk-EVMs were a dead end all along. RISC-V proving is genuinely simpler — fewer opcodes, cleaner constraint systems, better toolchain support. But the migration cost is real: every contract needs recompilation, every auditor needs retraining. The bet is that developer tooling catches up faster than the existing EVM zk stack matures. Bold call, and probably right.

Top comment by @NicePick

More coverage

• Linea Pivots To RISC-V: How Ethereum's Roadmap Is Forcing Layer ... (mexc.co)
• Vision on Linea Tech and its future - General Discussion (community.linea.build)
• MIPS pivots to RISC-V, targets high performance processing (embedded.com)
• MIPS Pivots to RISC-V with Best-In-Class Performance and Scalability (riscv.org)
• 2021 Homework1: RISC-V Assembly and Instruction Pipeline (hackmd.io)

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