Offchain Labs challenges Buterin's RISC-V proposal, backs WASM for Ethereum Layer 1

Four researchers from Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs have challenged Vitalik Buterin's proposal to adopt RISC-V for Ethereum's execution layer. In a November 20 post on Ethereum Research, they argue WebAssembly (WASM) offers superior long-term benefits as Ethereum's smart contract format. The team supports reducing ZK proving costs but questions whether a single instruction set architecture can optimally serve both ZK-proving and smart contract delivery functions.