Astar Network plans to launch two-VM smart contracts

Astar Network, a protocol for multichain decentralized applications (DApps), will launch the second version of its smart contracts that support both the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and the WebAssembly Virtual Machine (WASM VM) on April 6 on its main net.

Sota Watanabe, the founder of Astar Network, explained in an announcement that the new update would permit the creation of WASM or EVM projects within the network as well as the launch of new multichain applications.

According to Watanabe, the new upgrade will enable individuals to connect their Astar projects to any Polkadot- or EVM-based ecosystems.

Within the announcement, the Astar Network team argued that having two virtual machines running at the same time and permitting interactions between them is a “key success factor” for a forthcoming layer-1 blockchain.

Even though the Ethereum network brought about the Web3 revolution through smart contracts, the team argued that it cannot build the future of blockchain on its own.

To commemorate its release, the Astar team invited community members to tune in to a panel discussion on WASM led by its executives and various Polkadot developers. In addition, the company will meet with its infrastructure partners, who will construct the WASM environment’s foundation.

In related news, the Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution has been implemented. Polygon has recently launched the beta version of zkEVM on its main net, allowing developers to deploy smart contracts at a reduced cost. On March 27, the founder of Polygon, Sandeep Narwal, referred to zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs as “the holy grail of scaling Ethereum.”

The Polkadot team, the Web3 Foundation, has once again argued that the Polkadot token is not a security. On January 26, the company reiterated that DOT is no longer a security and stated that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has welcomed discussions with the company.