what's Powdr Labs?

Powdr Labs builds powdr, a modular SDK and compiler toolkit that accelerates zkVM performance and enhances security through techniques like static analysis, formal verification, and optimized intermediate representations. Originally an Ethereum Foundation project initiated by alumni from Solidity development, ZoKrates, and EF formal verification teams, it operates as an independent organization supported by partners including the Ethereum Foundation, Taiko, Scroll, and Starknet Foundation. The toolkit connects high-level programs to optimal provers, enabling seamless upgrades across backends like Halo2, Plonky3, and eSTARK without code rewrites. Key innovations include powdr-wasm, a WebAssembly zkVM leveraging the crush ISA with infinite registers to eliminate memory-intensive register spilling—reducing trace cells by 1.5x and proof times versus RISC-V in benchmarks like Keccak hashing and Ethereum block verification (Reth/Geth). Autoprecompiles further optimize common operations, making ZK proofs more efficient for blockchain scaling, privacy, and verifiable computation across languages like Rust and Go via WASI.

Powdr Labs achieved 1.5x speedup, 5-6x memory reduction for ZK proving WASM vs RISC-V.