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February was an eventful month for ZKM, with key research developments, in-depth discussions on zkVMs, and the first internal testing of zkMIPS+ - a significant step in our work toward high-performance zero-knowledge execution. At the recent ETHDenver event, we engaged in deep technical panels, explored our role in ETHProofs, and discussed our latest research in zkVM optimization.

This update provides an overview of our most recent advancements, technical discussions, and ongoing research efforts.

zkMIPS+: The Next Evolution in zkVMs

February saw the first internal testing of zkMIPS+, ZKM’s next-generation zkVM. Early results indicate substantial improvements in proving performance, optimized for both Bitcoin and Ethereum scalability.

Stephen Duan, ZKM’s Developer Lead, shared the first public insight on X:

“Just started internal testing of our new zkMIPS (zkMIPS⁺) and we have exceeded expectations. Can't wait to discuss this more at ETHDenver.”

The upcoming phase will focus on benchmarking, optimizing recursive proof composition, and further refining zkMIPS+ for its specialist Entangled Rollup and BitVM applications.

The State of zkVMs: ETHDenver Technical Panels

At ETHDenver 2025, ZKM played an active role in the ongoing industry discourse on the state of zkVMs and the future of ZK. We participated in multiple panels discussing execution models, recursive proof efficiency, and cross-chain proving systems, and much more.

Key ZKM contributions at ETHDenver:

• Entangled Rollups: Multichain Interoperability Without Bridges – ZKM Chief Scientist, Ming Guo, introduced our novel framework for interoperability without external bridge assumptions at the Bleeding Edge Summit.
• More on Entangled Rollups – Ming also presented about Entangled Rollups at Zero-Knowledge and Chill, alongside ZKM Developer Lead, Stephen Duan.
• zkVM State-of-the-Art Panel – Stephen participated in a technical discussion on zkVM design trade-offs with key representatives from zkSync, Aligned Layer, and Lita at ZK Hub.
  

• zkMIPS Precompile – Also at ZK Hub, ZKM Engineer, Vanhger Pham, gave a deep-dive presentation on the zkMIPS precompile.
• The Future of ZK – Ming Guo returned for a panel with Fermah, Veridise, and Manta Network on upcoming challenges on the future of ZK and its importance to blockchain systems.
• Ethereum’s ETHProofs Initiative – Stephan also featured in a structured conversation on proof aggregation for Ethereum blocks with the other early contributors to the Ethereum Foundation’s ETHProofs initiative.
• 2025: The End of ZK Projects? – ZKM’s Chief Scientist participated in another debate about the future of ZK at Proof Point by Lagrange, alongside Aleo Founder Howard Wu and others.

Key ZKM-hosted events at ETHDenver:

• ZK Morning Coffee (Feb 25) w/ The ZK Cloud, Electron ZK, Hyle
• Zero Knowledge & Chill (Feb 27) w/ Polygon, Dabl Club, EduDAO
• ZK Hub (Feb 28 - Mar 1) by House of ZK
• zkFriends Night (Feb 28) w/ Mina Protocol, o1 Labs, House of ZK

The session recordings will soon be available on YouTube, and for more information about our events, visit ZKM Events.

Bitcoin & ZK: Scaling Without Trade-offs

With increasing interest in Bitcoin programmability due to ZKM’s integration with GOAT Network, ZKM participated in technical discussions on how zkVMs can extend Bitcoin’s execution capabilities without compromising its base-layer design.

• Bitcoin Economy Conference: Ming Guo joined experts from Succinct Labs, Risc Zero, and Lita to examine zkVMs as a proving layer for Bitcoin L2s, focusing on off-chain execution models.
  🎥 Watch the full panel
• House of ZK Radio: BitVM & Proof Aggregation – ZKM Education Lead, Alice Liu, had a conversation with LayerEdge on BitVM-based verification and recursive proof aggregation as an alternative scaling mechanism.
  🎧 Listen here

As zkMIPS+ progresses, it is expected to be the most performant zkVM for Bitcoin-native verification frameworks.‍

ZKM Research Releases‍

ZKM’s research efforts continued to focus on improving proof efficiency, optimizing zkSNARK construction, and analyzing cryptographic protocols. This month, we published:

📌 Deep FRI Protocol – A study on reducing proof size and optimizing polynomial folding for recursive SNARKs. Read more

📌 Plonky2 Analysis – A technical breakdown of Plonky2’s zkSNARK model, focusing on preprocessing, polynomial commitments, and permutation checks. Full article

📌 Logup Protocol & Lookup Arguments – Research into improving lookup argument efficiency for proving systems. Technical breakdown

Ongoing research includes performance benchmarking of zkMIPS+, further optimizations in polynomial commitment schemes, and recursive proof aggregation models.

ZK Infrastructure & Hardware Acceleration

ZKM’s Alice Liu participated in recent discussions extended beyond software optimizations to include hardware acceleration for ZK proving systems. House of ZK Radio featured:

🎙 Eli Ben-Sasson (CEO, StarkWare) – Discussing OP_CAT, StarkNet scalability, and Bitcoin settlement.
🎧 Spotify | 📺 YouTube

🎙 Niall Emmart (Snarkify, ex-Nvidia) – A deep dive into GPU acceleration for zk-SNARK verification and recursive proving.
🎧 Spotify | 📺 YouTube

As proving systems evolve, research into specialized hardware optimizations for proof generation will continue to be a priority.

Upcoming Research & Development Focus

• zkMIPS+ Performance Benchmarking – Next-stage results on proving efficiency and scalability.
• Recursive Proof Aggregation – Ongoing work on improving the recursion model of zkMIPS+.
• ETHDenver Follow-ups – Recaps and technical discussions from ZK Hub presentations & panels.

ZKM remains focused on building the most performant and scalable zero-knowledge execution system. After showcasing our recent progress at a very busy ETHDenver, it’s now back to ‘heads-down and build’.

Stay connected:
💻 Website: zkm.io
📢 Twitter: @ProjectZKM
💬 Discord: discord.gg/zkm 

As we progress further into 2025, expect deeper dives into zkMIPS+, proof aggregation, and performance benchmarks. See you in next month’s update.