What is the LeanVM recently proposed by Ethereum? Let's first look at the background and reasons. To understand LeanVM, one needs to first understand the LeanEthereum framework. The LeanEthereum framework is a 10-year roadmap proposed by Ethereum researcher Justin Drake (released on July 31, 2025), with the goal of achieving million level TPS (L1 10k/L2 1M), real-time zkVM verification, and secure quantum computing. In this roadmap, zkVM is included, and LeanVM's goal is to achieve a minimized zkVM (zero knowledge virtual machine) for security verification, signature aggregation, and recursive proof in the post quantum era. The LeanEthereum framework consists of three parts: Lean consensus (simplified consensus, using zk proof to verify the state root to support household use of ordinary devices), Lean execution (simplified execution, implementing SNARKized L1 EVM, or introducing RISC-V), and Lean data (simplified data, a new generation of data availability solution). That is to say, LeanVM is part of LeanEthereum's vision to enhance Ethereum's performance, security, and decentralization through minimalism. ZkVM supports verifying computation and state without disclosing specific data content, making it suitable for real-time state verification, privacy protection, and cross chain applications. LeanVM itself focuses on solving the Ethereum computing bottleneck, attempting to address the problem of trustworthy but expensive on chain computing and cheap but lacking trust off chain computing. It mainly attempts to achieve efficient proofs through multilinear paradigms and small fields (such as Koala Bear, 31 bit prime field), replacing traditional univariate PCS (commitment scheme) to reduce proof overhead. According to its documentation, the architecture of LeanVM mainly uses the AIR (Arithmetic Intermediate Representation) table as a multi linear polynomial submission; Prove the effectiveness of constraints through the sum check protocol and simplify the evaluation into a single polynomial declaration; The basic instruction set includes addition, multiplication, reference (memory access), and conditional jump. Remove the allocation pointer (AP) register, use read-only memory (common and committed parts), and allocate frames based on hints from the prover; In terms of optimization, logup star is used to reduce commitment costs, with only 5 field elements (PC, FP, and three memory indexes) committed per week. Compared to other zkVMs (such as KO), the number is reduced to less than 18, but the constraint level is increased to 5; Support recursive proof: The current non optimized performance is 2.7 seconds per recursive part, with a target acceleration of more than 10 times. The cryptographic component includes the integration of Poseidon 2 (ZK friendly hash function), which supports precompilation of 16 and 24 field elements; Used for aggregation and recursion of XMSS (optimized hash based quantum signature scheme), with a common key of approximately 50 bytes, a signature of 3KB, verification of<1ms; fields and PCS: Koala Bear field, multilinear PCS， The inner product and multilinear evaluation are included in the extended field. From an implementation perspective, the Proof of Concept (POC) validator is implemented in<500 lines of Python, emphasizing maximum simplicity; The compiler supports inlining and loop unrolling, but it is not yet mature; In terms of testing, unit testing, round trip integrity testing, and known answer testing are conducted using the Pytest framework. The application scenarios of LeanVM include: signature aggregation (compressing thousands of signatures into small proofs, suitable for multi signature); Privacy wormhole, full chain gaming, predictive market, AI verification; Cross chain reuse (possibly applicable to BTC, etc.); Integrate with LeanMultisig (LeanMultisig is a hash based multi signature framework that uses XMSS leaf signature and aggregation, relying on LeanVM's zk proof to ensure post quantum security). According to the latest publicly available information, LeanVM is still in the early stages of research and prototype development. The Lean Ethereum roadmap was released on July 31, 2025, with an estimated completion of priority tasks for Lean Ethereum by 2026, support for testnet deployment by 2027-28, and completion of testing by 2029. Overall, the implementation of Lean Ethereum will take at least 3-5 years. However, looking at the overall roadmap, the future roadmap of Ethereum reveals a high-performance, decentralized, secure, and private future. Once a TPS of millions is achieved, becoming a global settlement target is not far away.