Ethereum · CryptoSlate
Ethereum researchers are racing to close a zkEVM security gap before December
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Ethereum’s better.codes contest now measures a cryptographic proof gap that researchers can attack from both sides.
Key facts
- At 15:44:47 UTC on Aug. 21, the live leaderboard showed a 63.99-bit lower certificate and a 116.13-bit upper certificate for koalaIRS12
- The Foundation’s December 2025 zkEVM security roadmap called for 128-bit provable security, a final proof size of 300 KiB or less, and a formal soundness argument for the recursion architecture
- Ethereum is +2.30% over the past 24 hours and currently sits at rank # 2 by market cap
- A February security-sprint update moved the M3 deadline to early December 2026 and aligned the architecture-security argument with a Dec. 1 deliverable
Summary
01 better.codes now shows a 63.99-bit lower certificate and 116.13-bit upper certificate for the fixed koalaIRS12 profile. 02 The 52.14-bit interval measures unresolved benchmark evidence, while Ethereum’s production zkEVM target requires 128-bit system-level security. 03 Researchers must narrow the benchmark gap and connect component results to recursion, implementation, and proof-size evidence before December 2026. At 15:44:47 UTC on Aug. 21, the live leaderboard showed a 63.99-bit lower certificate and a 116.13-bit upper certificate for koalaIRS12.