一句话：首次系统研究 LLVM 优化对 zkVM 的影响，并改造少量 pass 以提升证明生成性能。
零知识证明使可验证隐私计算成为可能，而 zkVM 让开发者可用 Rust/C++ 等常规语言编写证明生成程序。然而，zkVM 继承了面向传统架构的编译基础设施，标准编译器优化所依赖的缓存局部性、分支预测和指令级并行等特性在 zkVM 中并不存在，因此其优化效果存疑。本文首次系统研究编译器优化对 zkVM 性能的影响，在 RISC Zero 和 SP1 两个基于 RISC-V 的 zkVM 上，对 58 个基准测试评估了 64 个 LLVM pass、六个标准优化级别以及未优化基线。结果表明，标准 LLVM 优化虽能提升超过 40% 的 zkVM 性能，但远小于其在传统 CPU 上的效果，因为优化决策依赖硬件特性而非证明约束。基于性能影响分析，作者将少量 LLVM pass 改造为 zkVM-aware，使执行时间最多提升 45%，RISC Zero 平均提升 4.6%，SP1 平均提升 1%，并获得稳定的证明时间收益。
Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) are the cornerstone of programmable cryptography. They enable (1) privacy-preserving and verifiable computation across blockchains, and (2) an expanding range of off-chain applications such as credential schemes. Zero-knowledge virtual machines (zkVMs) lower the barrier by turning ZKPs into a drop-in backend for standard compilation pipelines. This lets developers write proof-generating programs in conventional languages (e.g., Rust or C++) instead of hand-crafting arithmetic circuits. However, these VMs inherit compiler infrastructures tuned for traditional architectures rather than for proof systems. In particular, standard compiler optimizations assume features that are absent in zkVMs, including cache locality, branch prediction, or instruction-level parallelism. Therefore, their impact on proof generation is questionable. We present the first systematic study of the impact of compiler optimizations on zkVMs. We evaluate 64 LLVM passes, six standard optimization levels, and an unoptimized baseline across 58 benchmarks on two RISC-V–based zkVMs (RISC Zero and SP1). While standard LLVM optimization levels do improve zkVM performance (over 40%), their impact is far smaller than on traditional CPUs, since their decisions rely on hardware features rather than proof constraints. Guided by a performance impact analysis, we slightly refine a small set of LLVM passes to be zkVM-aware, improving zkVM execution time by up to 45% (average +4.6% on RISC Zero, +1% on SP1) and achieving consistent proving-time gains. Our work highlights the potential of compiler-level optimizations for zkVM performance and opens new directions for zkVM-specific passes, backends, and superoptimizers.
DOI 原文 · arXiv · PDF（开放获取） · DBLP
@inproceedings{abs-2508-17518,
title = {Evaluating Compiler Optimization Impacts on zkVM Performance},
author = {Thomas Gassmann and Stefanos Chaliasos and Thodoris Sotiropoulos and Zhendong Su},
booktitle = {ASPLOS},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1145/3779212.3790159}
}