Part I: zkEVMs in Ethereum

This book takes a top-down approach to exploring zkEVMs. Accordingly, Part I introduces zkEVMs abstractly and explains how they can be applied within the Ethereum protocol.

We begin by defining the syntactical interface and key properties of zkEVMs. From there, we treat them as a black box and examine the types of problems zkEVMs can address and how they provide solutions. In many cases, alternative approaches exist, but zkEVMs represent one compelling path.

While this section is designed to be as self-contained as possible, we assume the reader has a basic understanding of the Ethereum protocol.