Boundless CEO Shiv Srivastava is on his mission to enable encryption breakthroughs to be used in everyday life. As the head of a decentralized market for unreliable zero-knowledge (ZK) computing using RISC Zero, SHIV is leading the fees to enable scalable interoperability and verifiable infrastructure across all blockchains.
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With leadership experience at Microsoft, Lyft, Coinbase and Avalanche, Shiv Bridges Deep Web2 expertise brings Web3 First Vision. In this conversation, he shares insights into Ethereum’s evolving strategy, ZK’s role in scaling, and how it fits into the future of easier-to-use, scalable cryptography.
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Q: What do you think about EF’s “protocol” transition and its new strategic goals?
A: The Ethereum Foundation’s move to reconfigure core R&D groups as “protocols” is timely and important. Focusing on scaling layer 1, expanding blob capacity and improving user experience reflects a clear shift towards product-driven execution, and requires an ecosystem.
What encourages us is the broader perception that providing high utility infrastructure is more important than launching yet another experimental project. There is a real distinction between long-term research and the built systems that people can rely on. We believe this change is moving towards a more mature stage for Ethereum.
“In this field, it’s easy to stick to familiar and already accepted things. But the real progress often comes from being willing to try new things and take wise risks. The goal is to advance the entire ecosystem.”
Shiv Srivastava, CEO of Boundless
I also think it’s worth acknowledging that many technically powerful projects are not successful. Experience in building and scaling systems is important, and if you want to build a durable infrastructure, it’s important to bring it to the forefront.
Q: The evolving role of ZK infrastructure with Ethereum scaling and UX focus?
A: ZK infrastructure continues to be the basis of Ethereum’s scaling roadmap, and the Ethereum Foundation’s new focus on ZKEVMS reveals its crystals. ZK Rollup offers real throughput, institut finality, and lower fees, making your UX smoother and more intuitive.
At Boundless, we’ve been building towards this moment. Allow developers to offload computing heavy tasks to off-cho, and use zero knowledge proofs to see the results. This approach allows blockchains to validate complex calculations without re-executing them, and unlocking new levels of scalability and efficiency.
Q: Why is cross-chain verifiable calculations important for Ethereum’s future?
A: Cross-chain verifiable calculations extend Ethereum security and utilities across the ecosystem. One chain of calculations or data (e.g., Celestia Blob or Solana Compute) can be trusted and used by Ethereum via ZK proof. This is extremely important for the multi-chain future, as it means that Ethereum apps can safely utilize external resources.
Q: How much does it contribute to the scaling of L1 and scaling blobs?
A: Boundless directly contributes to Ethereum scaling. Boundless is built to extend the limits of Ethereum, both in calculations and data. It provides a distributed proof layer that off-chain shifts running workloads while maintaining Ethereum security guarantees. Instead of all nodes where every node redoes all computations, Bandless generates a single proof that can be quickly and cheaply verified, radically expanding the ability to run Ethereum.
On the blob side, Boundless enables verifiable connections between Ethereum and the modular data availability layer, such as Celestia. By allowing BLOB data to be demonstrated across the chain by ZK and efficiently aggregating proofs, it helps reduce costs and increase rollup and application throughput.
Q: How can ZK technology enhance the user experience of L1 and rollups?
A: Boundless creates an infrastructure that allows users to interact with DAPP instantly at a low cost, and benefits from high security.
For developers, Boundless offers a simple interface. Write rust, define requests, and expand. There is no need to manage complex proof systems or infrastructure to handle infinitely all decorations, validation, and delivery.
Prover is encouraged to participate in decentralized markets to generate and deliver evidence. Unlike traditional workplace proof systems where only one miner is earned, Boundless’s Verifiable-Work (POVW) model allows multiple probers to be acquired based on useful computational tasks. This open market encourages competition and ensures efficient and reliable evidence generation.
Q: Impact of rollup adoption and improved blob efficiency in developer tools?
A: Improved blob efficiency is a game changer for rollups. Rollup with Blob posts a lot of data cheaply and reduces L2 fees by up to 10 times. As compression, encoding, and ZK validation improves, these costs will be further reduced, unlocking higher throughput and richer app experiences.
For a rollup builder, this means you can explore more complex architectures without pushing data restrictions or cost walls. For developers, blobs open the entire tool layer and services are designed around efficient blob usage. When blobs get cheaper, rollup adoption will accelerate.
Q: Your views on EF restructuring on accountability and strategy?
A: Restructuring of EF is a much-needed shift towards clarity and ownership. By naming leads in core areas such as L1 scaling, BLOB infrastructure, and UX, the remaining ecosystems have become more balanced and easier to collaborate. There is no more ambiguity. Now I know who is responsible for what. That creates real momentum.
It also encourages focusing on measurable results. This move shows a more agile and product-driven mindset from the ground up, exactly what is needed to make scaling efforts faster in the hands of users.
Q: What’s next for Boundless, as the ecosystem prioritizes scalable and verifiable calculations?
A: Boundless is making strong progress towards making verifiable computing networks available to the public. We look forward to sharing the details soon.
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Final Thoughts
As Ethereum matures and demand for seamless, scalable infrastructure intensifies, Boundless is at the heart of transformation. Shiv Srivastava and his team are building far more than developer tools. They lay the foundation for an unreliable, verifiable future where everyone can access powerful cryptographic systems.