Arbitrum's development team said it is integrating zero-knowledge proofs into the Arbitrum platform to support a multi-proof settlement model. According to ChainCatcher, the change is intended to cut settlement time for Arbitrum blocks on Ethereum L1 from days to hours while preserving security through a combination of ZK proofs, a proof committee, and fraud proofs.

The team said the capability will apply to Arbitrum One and dedicated chains built on the Arbitrum platform, and Offchain will later submit an upgrade proposal to the DAO. Current progress includes generating ZK proofs for real mainnet blocks in the SP1 zkVM, proving Stylus WASM contracts alongside Solidity contracts, and introducing a standalone Rust verifier so ZK proofs can operate as a first-class verification mode.

The team also said the BoLD settlement protocol now accepts ZK proofs and is backed by a fast confirmation committee, while the existing dispute game remains a fallback path. It said it is continuing to reduce proving costs and gradually merge the related code into Nitro's main production path. Next steps include further proof optimization, a shift to Reth-based execution, completion of L1 message inbox proofs, and adding ZK settlement support to node configurations for optional chain deployment.