Ethereum’s quantum race takes a new turn as zkSync courts banks and Starknet weighs exit
Matter Labs says its Airbender Prime prover verified 99% of 7,200 consecutive Ethereum mainnet blocks in under 10 seconds each on one Nvidia GPU, meeting Ethereum’s real-time proving benchmark. The result could support Ethereum’s quantum-resistance preparations, though proof sizes, full-system power use, costs and reliability still need independent assessment. Separately, Starknet is considering becoming an independent layer-1, a move requiring governance approval and engineering work. The announcements reflect diverging strategies among layer-2 projects: zkSync is developing Ethereum proof infrastructure and pursuing private, regulated-finance deployments through Prividium, while Starknet explores greater autonomy. Commercial prospects remain uncertain: Prividium’s fee model is unfinished, and several standalone chains and layer-2 networks face weak revenues or consolidation.
