Multi-chain decentralized application (DApp) protocol Astar Network will launch the second iteration of smart contracts supporting the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and WebAssembly Virtual Machine (WASM VM) on its mainnet on April 6.
In an announcement, Astar Network founder Sota Watanabe explained that the new update will allow the creation of WASM or EVM projects within their network and allow the launch of new multi-chain applications. According to Watanabe, the new upgrade will enable people to connect their Astar projects to any Polkadot- or EVM-based ecosystem. In the announcement, the Astar Network team believes that having two virtual machines at the same time and allowing interaction between the two is a "critical success factor" for the emerging layer 1 blockchain. The team claims that while the Ethereum network has brought about the Web3 revolution through smart contracts, it cannot build the future of blockchain alone.
To celebrate its launch, the Astar team invited community members to a panel discussion moderated by its executives and various Polkadot developers on how WASM can be leveraged. Additionally, the company will meet with its infrastructure partners who will lay the groundwork for the WASM environment.
In other news, Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution Polygon recently released a beta version of zkEVM to its mainnet, allowing developers to deploy smart contracts at a lower cost. On March 27, Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal described zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs as “the holy grail of Ethereum scaling.”
Meanwhile, the Web3 Foundation, the team behind Polkadot, has again argued that Polkadot
point, Tokens are not securities. On Jan. 26, the company reiterated that DOT was no longer a security and said the SEC would welcome negotiations with the company.
