ZK Proof Demand From L2s Dries Up as Cysic Turns to AI Inference

Cysic is pivoting. The ZK proof outfit says demand for proofs from layer 2 networks fell off a cliff this year, and it's now pointing its hardware at AI inference instead, according to an interview shared by @DefiantNews.

The twist: Cysic claims L2 fees are now running higher than Ethereum's own. That flips the old pitch — the whole reason rollups were supposed to need cheap ZK proofs was to keep costs down. If the math no longer works, the buyers stop buying.

Cysic's Leo Fan walked through the reasoning behind the shift. He also laid out where the company still sees a lane in crypto: real-time proving of Ethereum blocks in under eight seconds.

That's a tight window. Ethereum slots run roughly 12 seconds, so proving a block faster than one gets made would put ZK verification in the same breath as the chain itself — a far cry from the batch-and-wait rhythm most rollups live by.

For now, the headline is the retreat. A company built to sell ZK proving power to L2s is chasing AI compute dollars instead, a sign of where the demand actually is this year.