Accelerating ZK on Ethereum and beyond: Boundless x Wormhole will support a production grade zero knowledge consensus proof path starting with NTT on Ethereum.

• What’s new: Boundless (RISC Zero’s proof generation network) has built a custom verifier with Wormhole. It uses their Ethereum consensus ZK client to prove Ethereum mainnet finality for Wormhole’s NTT (Native Token Transfers) standard.
• Why this matters: This is the first step in a modular ZK strategy for Wormhole, utilizing its edge in connecting the most diverse set of blockchain ecosystems to operationalize best-in-class, open source ZK components.
• What’s the context: Wormhole is building on ZK contributions including co-developing a generalized zkVM and ZK light clients for Aptos and NEAR, and upcoming research on a novel tree-based folding scheme for proof generation.
• How to use it: NTT integrators can optionally enable ZK proof-verified transfers for Ethereum, configured as a two‑of‑two alongside the Wormhole Guardian signing mechanism for defense-in-depth security.
• L2 readiness: The verifier pairs the latest finalized root of Layer 2 blockchains to an Ethereum mainnet ZK consensus proof via Wormhole Guardian signatures, so the same security policy applies to rollups without changing application logic.
• Where you can verify: Proofs verify anywhere the RISC Zero Groth16 verifier is deployed: Ethereum, Base, Optimism, Arbitrum, Linea, Avalanche and soon Solana, extending as additional deployments land.
• What’s next: Expanding beyond NTT to general message passing, extending consensus proof support across fast-finality and nondeterministic blockchains, support for UTXO chains including a Dogecoin ↔ Solana bridge with PSY.
• Open source Ethereum: Wormhole is supporting The Signal and helping to make Ethereum consensus proofs open source.

What’s Shipping

We’re adding a Boundless NTT verifier for Ethereum and L2s, allowing for proofs generated by the Boundless Ethereum consensus ZK client (TSEth) to accompany Wormhole Guardian signatures.

For Ethereum-originated NTT flows, the destination chain verifies a ZK proof of Ethereum consensus, along with the block that contained the token lock or burn event before minting on the target chain.

When originating a transfer from an L2, the latest finalized root is referenced in the state of Ethereum mainnet. In order for this to work, Boundless relies on Wormhole messaging to distribute verified Ethereum block hashes to all currently supported chains where the RISC Zero Groth16 verifier is deployed, enabling the Boundless verifier to operate across other EVM chains.

This means NTT integrators will be able opt in to a two‑of‑two policy requiring both a valid Wormhole signature set and a valid Ethereum consensus ZK proof before the transfer is executed. The design adds an independent, cryptographic verification path for Ethereum finality while preserving the same developer experience integrators expect from NTT.

Proof verification is supported today on Ethereum, Base, Optimism, Arbitrum, Linea and Avalanche, with Solana support planned soon.

Pluggable ZKPs on Wormhole

Wormhole’s edge is in connecting heterogeneous ecosystems with composability, optionality, and security as its lifeblood. As the space has evolved it has become clear that a great generalized zkVM is a moving target, so while prover networks continue to iterate and push proof systems and hardware efficiency to the edge, Wormhole’s ZK strategy is in integrating the most effective and secure ZK components into our infrastructure without locking developers or applications to a single zkVM, circuit family or prover.

This step builds on a substantial foundation of open source work. Wormhole co-developed the Sphinx zkVM and an Aptos ZK light client in collaboration with Argument (formerly Lurk Lab) and Supranational. We supported the development of a NEAR ZK light client with Zpoken and are contributing to upcoming research on folding schemes and related proof system improvements. These contributions inform the interfaces we standardize, the verifier deployments we prioritize, and the modular shape of our upcoming production-grade ZK release.

Boundless NTT Verifier: How It Works

This release targets institutional integrators and infrastructure partners that want defense‑in‑depth and independent trust lines in their bridging stack. It also serves builders who want to incorporate cryptographic verification of L1 finality in addition to hardened Wormhole attestation. Teams planning for a ZK future will find this model directly extensible as proof costs fall.

You’ll be able to treat Boundless as an additional verification mechanism and set a policy that NTT must satisfy both the Wormhole Guardian signatures and the Boundless Ethereum ZK consensus proof. Here’s how it works:

1. Event on Ethereum: A native token burn or lock occurs on Ethereum for an NTT transfer.
2. ZK proof of consensus: The Boundless prover network generates a proof attesting to Ethereum consensus finality for the block that included the event.
3. Onchain verification: On the destination chain, the RISC Zero Groth16 verifier checks the compressed proof.
4. Two-of-two execution: The Boundless NTT verifier enforces a policy: it only proceeds if Wormhole Guardians have validated the message and the Boundless proof verifies correctly.
5. Mint on destination chain: Upon both conditions passing, the NTT flow completes as usual.

The Boundless verifier itself integrates a broadcasted verified Ethereum block hash to Wormhole supported chains with a RISC Zero Groth16 verifier. The system maintains two distinct update paths for the reference block hash, a ZK path and an attestation path using a Wormhole VAA from the Guardian Network.

Because verification occurs on the destination chain, L2s can adopt the Ethereum consensus proof via Wormhole and enforce identical policies when transfers originate from the L2. Boundless is upgrading the Steel framework to reference these contract level block hashes across chains, laying the foundation for a multichain expansion of this pattern.

Requiring both a Wormhole signature set and a valid ZK consensus proof helps in several ways, providing independent trust lines, further Byzantine fault tolerance, and operational flexibility in the future.

Once the Boundless verifier hardens in production with NTT, Wormhole can look to extend the path to additional ecosystems and other modalities of messaging and additional payloads, all while preserving choice with a modular approach to proving systems.

From Proof To Interoperability

Over the coming years shared ZK infrastructure will begin to allow for reusable and verifiable state roots across ecosystems, with the potential to rival redundant, per‑application submission patterns and become the foundation for trust minimized multichain applications.

In the near term latency, economics and distribution are bottlenecks for wider adoption of ZK proof systems, as consensus proof production for high velocity chains adds multiples on the wait time for standard chain finality, confining use cases until proof systems and hardware advance.

zkVM systems have now reached the milestone of block-time scale proof generation of Ethereum. Succinct proof of Ethereum consensus can be generated within the time it takes for a block to be produced and can be transmitted with no impact on latency, setting the stage for proof-verified messaging.

In the longer term, the product surface and design space broadens to allow for applications that can reference state from any chain, creating a unified developer interface enabling fully programmable transfers and tailored risk tolerances.

The collaboration with Boundless to bring fully open source consensus proofs mainstream signals Wormhole’s intent to help make possible the components needed to keep raising the floor for everyone. We’re working with partners to ship solutions that deliver developers real security and operational leverage, starting on Ethereum.

FAQ

• Does this replace Wormhole’s signing mechanism? No. It’s optional and additive, allowing NTT integrators to choose a two‑of‑two policy for defense-in-depth.
• Is this the same as real time proving the EVM? No. Those proofs only prove that the rules of EVM execution were followed, but without a proof of consensus, you can't prove transaction inclusion.
• What about gas and latency? Proof generation and on-chain verification introduce overhead that varies by route and market conditions. We’ll publish benchmarks and guidance as we expand availability.
• Why start with NTT? NTT is widely used by large asset issuers, has high security sensitivity, and has a clear event model. This makes it a natural first surface for ZK consensus verification. Lessons here will directly inform future developments.
• Will you support other provers? The architecture is modular. We plan to support additional proof systems as they mature.

Next Steps

The Boundless verifier is a focused, production grade step toward open source cryptographically verifiable options for integrating with the Wormhole network. It lets integrators opt in to the mathematical assurances of zero knowledge proofs today while keeping the proven security guarantees of NTT intact. Together we are actively building the foundations that unlock future proof systems, additional blockchains, and lower cost proof generation.

This is the first in a series of ZK updates. If you’d like to pilot Boundless with NTT or verify proofs on your chain, get in touch. We’re ready to help you go live on Ethereum and beyond.

About Wormhole

Wormhole is the leading interoperability platform that powers multichain applications and bridges at scale. Wormhole provides developers access to liquidity and users on over 40 of the leading blockchain networks, enabling use cases that span DeFi, NFTs, governance, and more.

The wider Wormhole network is trusted and used by teams like Circle and Uniswap. To date, the platform has facilitated the transfer of over 60 billion dollars through over 1 billion cross-chain messages. To learn more about Wormhole, follow on Twitter and join Discord.