Brevis has been named by V! $7.5 million funding to create a new era of ZK smart contracts.

Brevis is an on-chain data notarization platform powered by zk-SNARKs, co-led by YZi Labs and Polychain, and has recently gained popularity due to Vitalik Buterin's mention. The core innovation of Brevis lies in executing complex computations off-chain, and then using zk-SNARKs to bring the “computational correctness” back to the on-chain verification, enabling smart contracts to have “memory” and “thinking” capabilities.

Brevis Solves a Decade-Old Problem in Blockchain: Smart or Trustworthy?

For the past decade, developers have been stuck in the same paradox: to achieve performance, they must sacrifice decentralization; to ensure security, they must give up complex features. Smart contracts are inherently “forgetful,” unable to see history or process logic; thus, many protocols have opted for a semi-decentralized backend to make up for it. Brevis's approach is very straightforward: performing complex calculations off-chain, and then using zk-SNARKs to bring the verification of “the calculations are indeed correct” back on-chain.

This means that Brevis allows smart contracts to have “memory” and “thinking” for the first time, without having to trust anyone. Traditional smart contracts can only handle the data of the current block and cannot query historical transaction records or execute complex cross-chain logic. Brevis uses zk-SNARKs technology, enabling smart contracts to safely use historical data, perform complex calculations, and cryptographically prove their correctness.

This is why Vitalik Buterin mentioned Brevis in a post, expressing anticipation for Brevis's Pico Prism officially entering the ZK-EVM validation space. As one of the founders of Ethereum and a leading authority in blockchain technology, his mention signifies recognition of Brevis's technological direction. This kind of top-tier endorsement holds significant influence within the crypto community.

Real-world validation: PancakeSwap and Euler have been integrated

PancakeSwap uses Brevis to calculate user historical trading discounts; Euler relies on it to issue time-weighted lending rewards; Usual and Linea use it to achieve billion-level trustless distribution across multiple protocols. These are not dreams on a PPT, but on-chain logical operations that are genuinely running. The proof layer behind Brevis generates over 70 million ZK proofs daily, covering 138,000 users and distributing over 220 million dollars in rewards.

The use case of PancakeSwap demonstrates the practical value of Brevis. Traditionally, to implement a discount mechanism based on historical trading volume, the protocol needs to maintain a user transaction database off-chain or use a centralized oracle. This approach not only increases trust assumptions but also expands the attack surface. Brevis utilizes zk-SNARKs, allowing PancakeSwap to directly verify users' historical transaction records on-chain without needing to trust any intermediaries.

Euler's lending reward case better reflects the technical advantages of Brevis. Time-weighted means that it is necessary to calculate the user's lending balance at different points in time, which is almost impossible to achieve efficiently in traditional smart contracts. Brevis's off-chain computation combined with on-chain verification makes this complex reward distribution logic feasible and decentralized.

Usual and Linea have achieved billion-level trustless distribution across multiple protocols, showcasing Brevis's potential in cross-chain and large-scale fund management. Relying on centralized solutions for billion-level fund distribution poses significant risks. Brevis ensures the correctness and immutability of the distribution logic through zk-SNARKs, providing a reliable infrastructure for large-scale DeFi operations.

Pico Prism Technology Breakthrough: 10 Seconds Verification Disrupting Consensus Model

The core of Brevis is Pico ZKVM and Pico Prism. The latter completed the industry's first near real-time block proof on the Ethereum mainnet: 45M gas block, with a verification coverage of 96.8% completed within 10 seconds; average proof time of 6 to 7 seconds; cost is only half of competing solutions.

Pico Prism Three Major Technological Breakthroughs:

Near Real-Time Verification: Complete 45M gas block proof within 10 seconds, with a coverage rate of up to 96.8%.

Cost Advantage: The proof cost is only half of competitive solutions, making large-scale application economically feasible.

High throughput: Daily production of 70 million ZK proofs, supporting 138,000 active users.

This means that Ethereum is moving from a consensus model of “all nodes executing repeatedly” to a new consensus model of “single point computation + full network verification.” Scalability no longer requires sacrificing decentralization. The traditional Ethereum consensus mechanism requires all nodes to execute the same calculations to verify the correctness of transactions, and this redundant design ensures security but sacrifices efficiency. Brevis's ZK proof scheme allows one node to perform the computation and generate the proof, while other nodes only need to verify the proof to confirm the result is correct.

The revolutionary aspect of this model lies in breaking the blockchain trilemma. It was previously believed that decentralization, security, and scalability could not be achieved simultaneously, but zk-SNARKs technology is changing this assumption. Brevis proves that it is possible to significantly enhance scalability while maintaining decentralization and security.

A block size of 45M gas is already the maximum limit for a single block on Ethereum. The ability to complete verification within 10 seconds means that Brevis's technology is sufficient to support the entire load of the Ethereum mainnet. A coverage rate of 96.8% indicates that the vast majority of Ethereum transaction types can be processed by Brevis. This level of technological maturity has yet to be reached by many ZK projects.

The advantage of having costs that are only half of competing solutions makes Brevis more competitive in commercialization. The computational cost of zk-SNARKs has always been a bottleneck restricting its large-scale application. Brevis reduces costs while maintaining performance, providing economic feasibility for the large-scale adoption of the protocol.

The Proving Grounds Event: Alpha Airdrop Opportunity

Brevis has been very popular lately, with Binance's investment and Vitalik Buterin's endorsement making it a hot topic on the X platform. Additionally, Brevis is trending on X because everyone is participating in the “The Proving Grounds” event. Currently, it is the first phase of tasks: mainly social activities, such as following the official Twitter, joining the community, and checking in; the threshold is not high, and it is likely related to future airdrops.

These early activities are often a prelude to the project distributing tokens. Brevis, as a project that has secured $7.5 million in funding and has practical applications, has a high likelihood of launching tokens in the future. Users who accumulate points by participating in early activities are likely to receive airdrop rewards when the tokens are issued.

In terms of project quality, Brevis is not merely a speculative project. It has been practically adopted by multiple well-known protocols, processing 70 million proofs daily. This real usage data demonstrates its technical feasibility and market demand. Compared to many projects that only have white papers, the airdrop value of Brevis may be higher, as the tokens will have real utility to support them.

The Ultimate Significance of ZK Infrastructure: From Trusting People to Verifying Mathematics

After reviewing this system, the core insight is: ZK is not a performance optimization, but a reconstruction of the trust structure. Brevis replaces “trusted individuals” with “verifiable mathematics”, and also brings back many complex logics that originally “could only be achieved through centralization” into the decentralized world.

When this infrastructure truly becomes widespread, we may usher in a new phase: not to make Web3 more like Web2, but to finally allow it to be itself. Brevis transforms the opposition between “computation” and “trust” into a verifiable unity. This philosophical breakthrough is Brevis's most valuable contribution.