TECHNOLOGIES

EVM

Ethereum Virtual Machine

The runtime that executes smart contracts on Ethereum and the dozens of chains that copied its bytecode format.

Last reviewed: 2026-05-24 byKevin Riedl wiki β†—

The EVM is the execution layer Ethereum invented and that became the de-facto standard for smart-contract chains. A contract compiled to EVM bytecode runs on Ethereum mainnet, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, BNB Chain, Avalanche C-chain, and a long tail of L2s and sidechains.

The practical implication: write your contracts in Solidity (or Vyper), test on Ethereum testnets, and deploy to whichever EVM chain matches your cost and latency target. The portability is real. The trade-offs between chains are speed, finality, decentralisation, and which L2 framework they are built on.

Note that EVM-compatible is not the same as Ethereum-equivalent. Subtle differences in gas pricing, precompiles, and consensus behavior catch teams who deploy without re-testing per chain.

// FAQ

FAQs

FAQs

No, and this catches teams regularly. Subtle differences in gas pricing, precompiles, opcodes, and consensus behavior mean a contract that works on Ethereum mainnet can break on a sidechain. Always re-test per chain before deploying.
Ethereum mainnet for maximum trust assumptions and DeFi composability, at the highest gas cost. L2s (Arbitrum, Optimism, Base) for the same security model at one-tenth to one-hundredth the cost. Sidechains (Polygon PoS, BNB) for cheaper still with weaker guarantees. Pick on the security and cost trade-off, not the chain’s marketing.
Solidity is the industry default with the broadest tooling, auditor familiarity, and library support. Vyper trades that ecosystem for a smaller surface area and clearer semantics. For production, Solidity unless you have a strong reason to swim against the current.