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    🔗 Fundamentals: Overview of EVMs 🔒

    Interoperability between blockchains is one of the biggest problems that the industry is trying to solve. EVM compatibility is a good stepping-stone in solving this issue, proven by some of the most used blockchains currently: Ethereum, Avalanche, Binance Smart Chain, Fantom, Gnosis, Optimism, Arbitrum and Polygon.

    What is EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine)?

    EVM (or the ‘Ethereum Virtual Machine’) is a software environment that executes smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. It is the backbone of the Ethereum network, responsible for executing all operations and transactions on the blockchain.

    How does EVM work?

    The EVM is designed to be a Turing-complete virtual machine, which means it is capable of executing any algorithm or program. This essentially gives Ethereum its ‘programmability’ — allowing developers to write complex smart contracts and build dApps on top of the Ethereum network.

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    What does ‘EVM compatibility’ mean?

    EVM compatibility refers to the ability for a blockchain to run the EVM and execute Ethereum smart contracts. This means that developers can write & deploy the same smart contracts across multiple EVM blockchains, without needing to make significant changes to their code. These smart contracts can then interact with other EVM-compatible blockchains through the EVM, allowing anyone to create multi-chain dApps.

    Although they are not synonymous, one of the largest subsets of EVM-compatible blockchains are Layer 2 networks — typically built for scalability & efficiency, while still being able to leverage the Ethereum ecosystem’s tools, technical upgrades, and user base. Layer 2 solutions, such as optimistic rollups & zk-rollups, are built on top of the Ethereum mainnet — but they offer reduced transaction fees and increased blockchain throughput by moving computation off-chain, only committing final state changes back to the mainnet.