Brevis Achieves Groundbreaking Real-Time Proving for Ethereum Mainnet Using Consumer GPUs

Brevis, a leading blockchain infrastructure firm, has set a new benchmark in Ethereum scalability with its revolutionary decentralized zkVM (zero-knowledge virtual machine) solution, Pico Prism. On October 15th, the company announced its successful achievement of real-time proving for Ethereum mainnet blocks—using readily available consumer GPUs. This technological leap not only accelerates Ethereum’s decentralization vision but dramatically reduces hardware costs, making decentralized participation more accessible than ever.

Leveraging 64 Nvidia RTX 5090 GPUs, Pico Prism validated 99.6% of Ethereum’s maximum gas limit blocks (45 million gas) within an impressive 12 seconds and achieved 96.8% completion in just 10 seconds. The solution's average proving time was clocked at 6.9 seconds, showcasing a significant stride towards Ethereum Foundation’s real-time proving target of 99% coverage under 10 seconds. By eliminating reliance on expensive, proprietary data center hardware, Brevis has cut costs in half while delivering 3.4 times greater efficiency compared to previous state-of-the-art solutions. This innovation positions Pico Prism as a critical enabler in Ethereum’s ongoing scalability and decentralization efforts.

Superior Performance Metrics: Reduced Costs and Speed Optimization

Brevis conducted rigorous benchmark testing to highlight Pico Prism's superiority over existing technologies. Using Ethereum’s previous 36 million gas limit blocks for comparison, the results were unmistakable: Pico Prism surpassed the industry-standard SP1 Hypercube solution across all key performance metrics, illustrating a 71% improvement in speed and significant cost reductions.

Pico Prism vs. SP1 Hypercube Performance Metrics:

• Proving Success Rate (<10 seconds): 98.9% (vs. 40.9% from SP1 Hypercube)
• Hardware Costs: $128,000 (vs. $256,000, representing a 50% reduction)
• Average Proving Time: 6.04 seconds (vs. 10.3 seconds, 71% faster)
• GPUs Required: 64 Nvidia RTX 5090 GPUs (vs. 160 RTX 4090 GPUs)
• Integrated Efficiency (Speed & Cost): 3.4 times improvement

Mo Dong, CEO of Brevis, commented, "These results prove that consumer-grade hardware can efficiently handle Ethereum network blocks, lowering barriers for participation while reinforcing the core principles of decentralization. This marks a significant step toward Ethereum’s future scalability goals."

Decentralized Architecture: Unlocking GPU Potential

The unprecedented performance of Pico Prism lies in its innovative architecture, which utilizes a distributed multi-GPU cluster system. Unlike conventional approaches dependent on single-machine designs, Brevis’ architecture breaks the proving process into parallel steps, optimizing task allocation between GPUs and CPUs. GPUs are utilized for intensive cryptographic computations, while CPUs manage lighter setup tasks, ensuring maximum hardware efficiency.

This distributed design enables nearly linear performance scalability as hardware expands, creating a significant advantage for decentralized operators. The company guarantees transparency in its benchmark reproducibility and technological verification to foster trust and accelerate adoption within the Ethereum ecosystem.

Driving Ethereum’s Roadmap Toward Layer 1 Integration

Ethereum’s current computational model involves over 800,000 validator nodes individually re-executing transactions across the network—a process that strains computational efficiency and slows scalability. Real-time proving solutions, like Pico Prism, offer a transformative alternative: cryptographic proofs generated by a single prover that can be verified almost instantly by other nodes, significantly reducing the computational burden on the system.

The Ethereum Foundation’s roadmap for 2025 outlines ambitious goals, such as achieving 99% proof coverage under 10 seconds and reducing hardware costs for real-time proving solutions to under $100,000. While Pico Prism’s current hardware cost of $128,000 slightly exceeds this target, its reliance on consumer-grade GPUs has been lauded for making decentralized infrastructure accessible to a broader audience. Brevis is working toward achieving 99% coverage within months using fewer than 16 Nvidia RTX 5090 GPUs—potentially bringing hardware costs below the $100,000 threshold and solidifying its role as a leading contender for Ethereum Layer 1 integration.

Establishing Reliability and Future Goals

Brevis has already earned industry credibility through the adoption of its “ZK data coprocessor” technology across major decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, including PancakeSwap, Linea, and MetaMask. This frequent collaboration with prominent protocols underscores Brevis’ infrastructure reliability and its capacity to drive innovation across blockchain ecosystems.

Looking ahead, Brevis is committed to pushing the boundaries of performance further. Its next milestone involves achieving 99% proof coverage within 10 seconds using a reduced hardware setup, ensuring both economic and operational efficiency. If successful, Pico Prism is poised to become a cornerstone in Ethereum’s pursuit of scalability, decentralization, and technological sustainability.

Brevis’ advancements highlight the convergence of cutting-edge cryptographic engineering with practical, consumer-accessible hardware, offering a glimpse into the future of blockchain infrastructure—a future anchored in decentralization, affordability, and unrivaled performance.