Brevis is trying an interesting approach to solve an old problem in Web3 — on-chain computation is too expensive.

The project positions itself as the "Web3 Infinite Computing Layer," with a straightforward core idea: move computation off-chain, then use zero-knowledge proofs to verify the results back on-chain. This approach reduces costs without sacrificing security.

More specifically, Brevis aims to address three pain points. First, executing any complex logic on-chain requires gas, making costs prohibitively high. Second, smart contracts find it difficult to access historical data or cross-chain data, often relying on oracles or centralized indexing services, which introduces trust risks. Third, existing solutions lack flexibility and struggle to support data-driven DeFi applications, cross-chain verification, or advanced scenarios like verifiable AI.

From a technical perspective, Brevis's foundation consists of two core components. One is Pico zkVM, a general-purpose zero-knowledge virtual machine built with a "glue co-processor" architecture. It can handle standard computations using a general workflow and includes dedicated acceleration circuits for specific scenarios, supporting mainstream programming languages. Notably, they have launched Pico-GPU, which can accelerate proof generation speed by 10 to 20 times — critical for throughput and cost control in production environments.

The other is ProverNet, a decentralized proof network. This network uses a TODA auction mechanism to allocate computation requests, providing scalable proof computing power, especially suitable for multi-chain scenarios and high concurrency demands.

In terms of developer friendliness, Brevis has designed a programmable SDK with an integrated process of just three steps — data access, off-chain computation, on-chain verification. This means developers don’t need deep cryptography expertise to quickly integrate ZK capabilities into their applications.

The project also demonstrates several clear advantages. Technologically, Pico zkVM outperforms mainstream similar products in performance, and its modular components allow adaptation to different business needs. Functionally, developers can securely access complete historical data across multiple chains, support complex computations, and enable cross-chain verification — unlocking many previously difficult-to-implement application scenarios. In terms of deployment, the simplified development experience significantly lowers the cost and barriers for ZK application adoption.

If this solution is successfully implemented, it could open up considerable possibilities for DeFi, cross-chain ecosystems, and on-chain AI inference.