Astar Network To Introduce Smart Contracts That Accommodate Two Virtual Computers

On April 6, the multichain decentralized application (DApp) protocol Astar Network will release the second version of its smart contracts on its mainnet, which supports both the WebAssembly Virtual Machine (WASM VM) and the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

Astar Network founder Sota Watanabe informed Cointelegraph in a statement that the new version would permit the development of new multichain apps as well as WASM or EVM projects within their network. With the new version, customers will be able to link their Astar projects to any Polkadot or EVM-based ecosystems, claims Watanabe.

The Astar Network team made the case in the announcement that having two virtual machines running at once and enabling communication between them is essential for the development of a layer-1 blockchain. The team argued that while if the Ethereum network's use of smart contracts helped usher in the Web3 revolution, it is insufficient on its own to create the blockchain of the future.

The Astar team asked the neighborhood to join a panel discussion hosted by its management and a number of Polkadot developers to talk about how WASM can be used. A meeting will also be held with the infrastructure partners who will lay the groundwork for the WASM environment.

In other developments, Polygon, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, has made its zkEVM beta available on its mainnet. This enables developers to create smart contracts more affordably. Zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, according to Polygon creator Sandeep Nailwal, are the "holy grail of Ethereum scaling," he said on March 27.

Polkadot's creators, the Web3 Foundation, have reaffirmed their claim that the Polkadot (DOT) token is not a security in the meantime. The company reiterated on January 26 that DOT had already stopped being a security and that the US Securities and Exchange Commission had welcomed talks with the company.