Introduction
The EVM’s dominance is so pervasive it’s difficult to imagine alternatives — similar to how capitalism is perceived. Various Alt-L1 blockchains pivoted to become Layer-2 solutions during L2 mania, with even Ripple launching an EVM layer despite its existing XRP community.
What is the EVM?
The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is the execution environment where smart contracts are deployed and run. Key characteristics include:
- Functions similarly to traditional virtual machines
- Processes transactions sequentially
- Implements gas fees to prevent inefficient code and spam
- Developers write contracts in Solidity or Vyper, which compile to bytecode
The EVM represented a revolutionary “0 to 1 moment” in 2014, enabling the first smart contract platform and paving the way for composable finance.
Limitations of the EVM
Security risks: One widely-adopted VM means a single bug affects multiple chains, leading to numerous documented hacks.
Performance limitations: Sequential transaction processing creates bottlenecks. As volumes increase, gas costs rise proportionally.
Solidity complexity: Requiring a custom programming language limits the developer community and introduces well-known vulnerabilities like reentrancy attacks and integer overflow exploits.
DeFi challenges: Developers must continually chase TVL, requiring users to lock funds in AMM models — creating security vulnerabilities.
Layer 2 fragmentation: Network security concerns arise alongside UX and liquidity fragmentation across multiple L2 solutions.
Alternative Virtual Machines
NEAR
NEAR selected WebAssembly (WASM) for its VM, prioritizing performance and speed. Benefits include universal runtime capabilities and “web2-like” experiences for developers, including yielded execution where contracts wait for responses rather than repeatedly re-calling.
Solana & the SVM
Solana has become the most successful alternative L1, largely due to its Sealevel parallelization engine. This enables independent transactions to execute in parallel, dramatically improving performance and efficiency. Solana’s design also allows it to help scale the EVM, as demonstrated by NEON EVM.
Fuel
Fuel is a custom virtual machine purpose-built for smart contract execution. It implements improvements including minimized state, parallel transaction execution, and multi-threaded CPU utilization. Fuel introduced a custom language combining Rust syntax with Solidity elements.
Challenges AltVMs Face
Despite objective improvements over EVM, AltVMs face significant hurdles:
User perception: The biggest challenge remains human psychology. Users, traders, and marketers must shift their understanding to embrace alternatives.
Developer experience: Early-stage chains suffer from limited tooling and accessibility. One speaker described this as “chewing glass” — uncomfortable and discouraging.
Tooling gaps: EVM maintains a significant advantage through established tooling and predictable data retrieval processes. AltVMs may need 2-3 years to achieve comparable infrastructure maturity.
Network effects: Only Solana has successfully established a thriving ecosystem among alternatives. Without sufficient developer adoption, new chains cannot succeed, regardless of technical superiority.
Learning From Solana’s Success
Solana’s rise offers instructive lessons for emerging AltVMs:
Hackathon strategy: Rather than traditional 3-day competitions, Solana extended hackathons to allow developers to build functional MVPs, with prizes serving as grants to transform prototypes into businesses.
Community integration: Hosting hackathons within larger crypto community events effectively reaches target builders.
Engineering-first approach: The foundation prioritized feature development based on product logic rather than demand alone.
Ecosystem diversity: Solana became home to DePIN projects, memecoins, and various innovative applications.
Future Outlook
The speakers expressed optimism about AltVMs’ role in Web3, believing they provide essential choice and decentralization benefits. One speaker emphasized that “end-users don’t care about VMs” — they care about better products.
The conversation concluded with hopes that infrastructure discussions will eventually become obsolete, embedded in the ecosystem as invisibly as HTTPS is in traditional internet infrastructure.
Key Takeaway
While technical improvements alone cannot guarantee AltVMs’ success, the diversity of approaches offers valuable alternatives to EVM’s established dominance, ultimately benefiting the broader Web3 ecosystem.