April updates

updates/april-2026.md

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+# April 2026
+
+## Project 1: Execution Witness
+
+### M1 — Finalize ExecutionWitness in execution specs
+
+- [Ignacio] [zkevm@v0.3.4](https://github.com/ethereum/execution-spec-tests/releases/tag/zkevm%40v0.3.4zkevm@v0.3.4) released with multiple fixes and improvements.
+- [Ignacio] On-going work: include `public_keys`, proper `chain_config`, and prefix schema-id for proper SSZ-deserialization.
+
+
+### M2 — Client implementations
+
+#### Besu
+
+
+#### Ethrex
+
+- [Gaston] [Target zkevm@v0.3.3 fixtures and extend run for all tests](https://github.com/lambdaclass/ethrex/pull/6527) (not only EIP-8025 ones). 
+
+#### Geth
+
+
+#### Nethermind
+
+- [Team] Making general progress on execution witness generation ([blog post](https://www.nethermind.io/blog/road-to-zk-implementation-nethermind-clients-path-to-proofs))
+
+#### Reth
+
+- [Ignacio] [Support generating legacy and canonical execution witnesses](https://github.com/paradigmxyz/reth/pull/22289) (long due PR merged).
+- [lazovicff] [Ongoing work](https://github.com/paradigmxyz/stateless/pull/25) supporting official execution witness releases.
+
+#### Nimbus
+
+ - [deme] Working in running EEST releases.
+
+#### Zilkworm
+
+
+## Project 2: zkEVM Guest Program
+
+### M1 — Finalize guest program in execution specs
+
+- [Ignacio] [zkevm@v0.3.4](https://github.com/ethereum/execution-spec-tests/releases/tag/zkevm%40v0.3.4) released with multiple fixes and improvements.
+- [Ignacio] On-going work to wrap first stable version, in particular: `ChainConfig` and prefix-schema identifier in the stateless input for fork and forward compatibility.
+- [Ignacio] Proposed EIP-7709 in ACDE ([presentation](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1raEGijf92cUBeCGeTzQusItvIVUAjRcLzzlXtgL9jcU/edit?usp=sharing) & [long-form analysis document](https://hackmd.io/@jsign/EIP-7709-Hegota-proposal)).
+
+
+### M2 — Reproducible ELF builds and distribution
+
+### M3 — Client implementations
+
+#### Besu
+
+- [Gabriel] Found a spec bug regarding incoherent SSZ inputs for tests with invalid txs. This was [fixed](https://github.com/ethereum/execution-specs/pull/2768) in zkevm@v0.3.4.
+- [Gabriel] Made zesu support [zkevm@v0.3.4 release](https://github.com/Consensys/zesu/pull/28). 
+
+#### Ethrex
+
+- [Ignacio] Support canonical SSZ bytes as guest program input ([in review](https://github.com/lambdaclass/ethrex/pull/6550)).
+- [Ben] [Wire missing zkVM precompile for `hash_tree_root` usage for public inputs](https://github.com/lambdaclass/ethrex/pull/6549)
+- [Ben] [Remove rayon](https://github.com/lambdaclass/ethrex/pull/6560) as guest program dependency
+
+#### Geth
+
+#### Nethermind
+
+- [Team] Making general progress on guest program ([blog post](https://www.nethermind.io/blog/road-to-zk-implementation-nethermind-clients-path-to-proofs))
+- [Ruben] Helping discuss upcoming guest program input design.
+
+#### Reth
+
+#### Zilkworm
+
+- [Som] Experimenting with alternative guest input design that can become more performant.
+
+
+## Project 3: zkEVM Guest API standardization
+
+### M1 — Standardize minimal hardware targets
+
+
+### M2 — Standardize zkVM precompiles via C headers
+
+### M3 — Standardize the interface for accessing IO via C headers
+
+### M4 — Standardize assumptions about the ELF and zkVM processing
+
+## Project 4: Consensus Layer Integration
+
+### M1 — Finalize consensus specs
+
+### M2 -- Spec out BiB changes
+
+### M3 -- Client implementations
+
+#### Kurtosis / ethereum-package
+
+#### Lighthouse
+
+#### Prysm
+
+#### Grandine
+
+#### Lodestar
+
+#### Nimbus
+
+#### Teku
+
+## Project 5: Prover Infrastructure
+
+### M1 — Integrate zkVMs into Ethproofs
+
+### M2 — Ensure GPU implementations are open source
+
+### M3 — Integrate zkVMs into Ere
+
+### M4 — Test zkboost in isolation with single and then multiple GPUs
+
+### M5 — Metrics to track prover reliability and pipelining inefficiencies
+
+### M6 — Allow attesters to use this infrastructure to verify proofs
+
+## Project 6: Benchmarking and Metrics
+
+### M1 — Benchmark guest programs against zkVMs locally
+
+- [Ignacio] New Zisk v0.16.1 run for refreshed EEST benchmarks and mainnet blocks ([dashboards landing page](https://eth-act.github.io/zkevm-benchmark-runs/)).
+- [Ignacio] [New Zisk profiling dashboard](https://eth-act.github.io/zkevm-benchmark-runs/profiles/) for easier analysis of any EEST benchmark profiling.
+- [Ignacio] Improved [_Repricing dashboard_](https://eth-act.github.io/zkevm-benchmark-runs/repricing/): crash message details, unified dataset ux, plot view with proving time per gas cost (linearity), and other improvements.
+- [Ignacio] [Found bug and implemented fix](https://github.com/CPerezz/worst_case_miner/pull/7) in worst_case_miner used in EEST for deep SSTORE benchmarks.
+- [Ignacio] [Implemented new SLOAD deep branch benchmark](https://github.com/ethereum/execution-specs/pull/2635) in EEST.
+
+### M2 — Integrate metrics into pandaOps' lab
+
+### M3 — Investigate multidimensional metering/pricing
+
+- [Ignacio / Maria] Brainstormed potential improvements to Glamsterdam repricing analysis tool to generalize it for proving and H* upcoming projects.
+
+## Project 7: Security
+
+### M1 — Agree on proof size, security regime and timelines
+
+### M2 — Figure out what components need specifications
+
+### M3 — Figure out what the end-game for specs looks like
+
+### M4 — Figure out guarantees around each component
+
+### M5 — Establish a minimal go/no-go framework
+
+### M6 — Identify minimum acceptable formal verification requirements
+
+### M7 — Establish security and adversary model
+
+### M8 — Establish and test safe fallback behavior