There are four kinds of zkEVMs floating around. Types 1–3 all cut corners:
Type 1: reimplement the entire Ethereum client in circuits - nobody has finished
Type 2: complete bytecode compatibility but slow proofs (Linea)
Type 3: almost compatible, some opcodes patched or missing
Type 4: compile Solidity to custom zk-friendly language (breaks everything)
While everyone was still stuck debating theory, Linea shipped a real Type-2 zkEVM in production. That decision cost an extra 14 months of circuit work, but it paid off: every single contract that works on Ethereum today works on Linea tomorrow. No exceptions.
The prover is responsible for the following:
Precompiles (ecrecover, sha256, etc.)
SELFDESTRUCT (most teams gave up here)
CREATE2 deterministic addresses
Blockhash opcode for oracles
Difficulty / basefee for MEV bots
Because Linea didn't cheat on compatibility, the entire DeFi Lego set ported over instantly.
Curve pools, Yearn vaults, Convex gauges, GMX v2 perps — all live and battle-tested on Linea with zero code changes.
Throughput keeps climbing: in November 2025, the chain averaged 3,100 TPS over a full week, with a single 7-second burst hitting 18,400 TPS during a major NFT drop.
Proof size is down to ~130 KB per batch, costing roughly 180k gas to verify on Ethereum cheap enough that settlement fees barely register for users.