---
title: "Miden VM"
description: "Miden VM: zkVM (stack-based). Kind: zkVM (stack-based). Arithmetisation / backend: STARK, custom ISA. Setup: None. Maintained by: Miden (Polygon spin-out)."
type: "option"
url: "https://zkpick.com/frameworks/miden-vm/"
section: "02 Choosing a framework"
authors:
  - "MarketComp"
publisher: "MarketComp"
version: "1.3"
updated: "2026-09-12"
license: "CC-BY-4.0"
json: "https://zkpick.com/data/frameworks/miden-vm.json"
---

*By MarketComp. Updated 2026-09-12. Version 1.3. CC BY 4.0.*

# Miden VM — *zkVM (stack-based)*

> Miden VM: zkVM (stack-based). Kind: zkVM (stack-based). Arithmetisation / backend: STARK, custom ISA. Setup: None. Maintained by: Miden (Polygon spin-out). Licence: MIT / Apache-2.0. Status: Actively developed; mainnet launch announced for 2026. Choose it when: Applications needing client-side proving and programmable privacy. Less compelling as a general-purpose off-chain proving engine.

A STARK-based virtual machine with its own assembly language and a Rust compiler target, purpose-built for client-side proving and programmable privacy — a design point most general zkVMs do not target.

**Strengths**

- Explicitly designed for client-side proving and programmable privacy
- No trusted setup
- Very actively developed under a permissive dual licence

**Tradeoffs**

- Its own assembly and execution model, so no reuse of the RISC-V toolchain ecosystem
- The network's mainnet launch was announced for 2026; production evidence is limited until it has been live for a while — confirm the current status
- Smaller ecosystem and thinner third-party audit and tooling coverage than the RISC-V majors

**Choose it when:** Applications needing client-side proving and programmable privacy. Less compelling as a general-purpose off-chain proving engine.

Maintained by: Miden (spun out of Polygon Labs) · Maturity: Actively developed; mainnet launch announced for 2026 · License: MIT / Apache-2.0 · Source: https://github.com/0xMiden/miden-vm

**In the framework selection matrix** (https://zkpick.com/frameworks/#frameworks-matrix-miden-vm)

| Project | Kind | Arithmetisation / backend | Setup | Maintained by | Licence | Status |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Miden VM | zkVM (stack-based) | STARK, custom ISA | None | Miden (Polygon spin-out) | MIT / Apache-2.0 | Actively developed; mainnet launch announced for 2026 |