zkSync Targets Banks as Starknet Weighs Ethereum Exit

Matter Labs, the company behind zkSync, announced Airbender Prime, a prover designed to generate zero-knowledge proofs for Ethereum execution. The company reported that the system processed 99% of 7,200 consecutive Ethereum mainnet blocks in under 10 seconds each on a single Nvidia RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell GPU.

The benchmark included witness preparation, a data-processing stage required before a proof is produced. Every tested block finished in under 12 seconds, according to Matter Labs. The company did not publish independent measurements of the system’s full electricity use, proof sizes or long-term operating costs.

Airbender Prime uses hash-based STARKs, a type of zero-knowledge proof system. Its design combines GKR sumcheck, WHIR polynomial commitments and BLAKE2s hashing. Proof commitments submitted to Ethereum use Keccak-256 rather than BN254 pairings. Nvidia rates the graphics card at 600 watts of board power, while marketplace prices have been reported at about $16,000.

Ethereum’s published target for quantum resistance across its execution, consensus and data layers is December 2029. The Ethereum Foundation has described the schedule as aggressive. Airbender Prime operates outside Ethereum’s consensus protocol and addresses transaction proving. It does not protect Ethereum’s account signatures, validator signatures or data commitments from quantum attacks.

The Foundation’s framework for Ethereum proving systems includes proof sizes below 300 kilobytes, 128-bit security, on-premises capital spending of about $100,000 and total power use below 10 kilowatts. Its public proving program is still assessing security and reliability.

Starknet said it is considering becoming an independent layer-1 blockchain, with a goal of full quantum resistance in 2027. StarkWare’s June roadmap identified hash functions in Starknet’s proving system, while bridge messaging and blob data availability remain connected to Ethereum. An independent chain would control those functions and set its own development schedule. The proposal still requires governance approval and engineering work.

Matter Labs’ third-quarter report described private institutional interoperability as a priority over public Gateway interoperability. Institutions using its Prividium platform requested private execution, direct settlement on Ethereum and atomic transfers between Prividium chains. The report removed fees from the original public Gateway proposal and identified the fee model for private interoperability as unfinished.

Matter Labs reported that Germany’s central bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, is testing Prividium’s open-source permissioning engine on its own infrastructure. The engine allows regulated institutions to operate and inspect its core code. A zkSync case study on Cari names five U.S. regional banks as founding partners, with more than $8 trillion in combined assets. A separate zkSync summary places the broader network at more than 30 institutions with more than $10 trillion in combined assets.

No connection between Prividium activity and demand for zkSync’s ZK token has been established because the private-interoperability fee model has not been published.

Other blockchain networks have reported financial pressure. Blast set an Oct. 26 deadline for users to exit after reporting that maintenance costs exceeded revenue. Abstract said it was shutting down. LlamaRisk, a risk provider for Aave, recommended ending V3 deployments on six networks, including zkSync. It reported quarterly protocol revenue below $5,000 for zkSync, Scroll and Sonic at their current balances.