Recently, during a fireside chat at Pragma Taipei, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin discussed the technical choices behind Ethereum.

The core question is quite interesting: why did Ethereum ultimately abandon the eWASM plan?

Vitalik explained that—although the EVM runs stably—its design has some less elegant aspects. For example, the CALLCODE instruction, which is essentially redundant and has very little presence. Due to these flaws accumulating, the industry once regarded eWASM as a savior, believing it to be the best replacement for the EVM.

But reality is always complex. The "Merge," a key upgrade for Ethereum, was repeatedly delayed, directly affecting the pace of technological development. Meanwhile, the advancement of cryptographic technologies like SNARKs has also changed the ecosystem's expectations for the underlying virtual machine.

Ultimately, the Ethereum community shifted its focus to RISC-V. Compared to eWASM, the RISC-V architecture is simpler and better aligned with current technological trends. This is not a fleeting trend but a rational choice made under the dual pressures of technological evolution and market realities.