Ethereum Developers Unveil Prototype of Native Rollups Without ZK-Proofs

Ethrex team releases code for native rollups with Ethereum Foundation and L2BEAT.

The Ethrex team, in collaboration with the Ethereum Foundation and L2BEAT, has released the code and documentation for a working environment of native rollups.

We’ve been working with @kevaundray and @ladislaus0x from @ethereumfndn and @donnoh_eth from @l2beat on a proof of concept of EIP-8079 (native rollups) using @ethrex_client.

Native rollups reuse Ethereum’s own execution to verify L2 state transitions. No ZK circuits, no fraud… pic.twitter.com/VVEtwhheLW

— ethrex (@ethrex_client) March 10, 2026

The prototype implements EIP-8079 using the Ethrex client and introduces a new mechanism — precompile EXECUTE. This mechanism replays L2 blocks on the mainnet, allowing the latter to independently verify the correctness of operations.

Currently, all rollups in Ethereum use fraud proofs or ZK-schemes for transaction validation. Despite their technical complexity, these solutions have become the industry standard.

Native rollups offer a simpler approach: the mainnet recalculates the state through the EXECUTE precompile. No external proofs are needed — the base layer verifies everything independently.

If successful, rollups could inherit security and updates directly from Ethereum. Any improvements to the base protocol would automatically apply to second-layer networks, significantly simplifying their long-term maintenance.

The demonstration on Ethrex indicates a potential development direction: part of the verification logic could return to the base layer. However, this remains experimental. The current implementation is a proof of concept, not a ready-to-use infrastructure. Native rollups are still in the research phase.

The experiment is part of a reassessment of Ethereum’s scaling strategy. Previously, network co-founder Vitalik Buterin noted that the rollup-centric roadmap remains in place, but the L2 ecosystem is decentralizing more slowly than anticipated.

Earlier in March, the programmer urged developers to experiment more actively at the application level without compromising the protocol’s fundamental principles.