ChainThink news: On December 21, the Ethereum Foundation announced it will shift its focus from speed to security by 2026, establishing stringent 128-bit cryptographic standards. The Foundation stated that zkEVM has made significant performance advancements over the past year, but certain implementations rely on unverified mathematical assumptions, posing theoretical risks of on-chain state forgery. Therefore, the next critical phase prioritizes strengthening formal verification, resistance to adversarial attacks, and foundational cryptographic security.

Going forward, the Foundation will provide security audit and assessment tools, mandating that all zkEVM implementations achieve a minimum 128-bit security level by 2026—the currently recognized standard in mainstream cryptography. While this new standard may slow progress on some scalability projects, the Foundation emphasizes that, in the long run, resilience against attacks and verifiable trust are essential prerequisites for attracting institutional participants and high-value applications—security must come before performance scaling.