VM Creation

For some use cases it might be necessary to create entirely new VMs.

In our analogy this would be the case if we require completely different features, let's say we want to build a car VM. There is simply no way we can configure or extend a soda dispenser to turn it into a car. Instead we have to build a new VM from ground up. These newly created VMs can cater to much more specialized use cases and therefore this enables completely new blockchain applications not possible before.

VM Creation is by far the most complex way, but also the most powerful way to customize a VM. It requires a deep understanding of the blockchain space and software development skill. There might be certain basic elements in most VMs, such as the notion of transaction, accounts and authentication. Therefore, Avalanche provides some SDKs, such as the HyperSDK, to make the creation of VMs in languages like Go and Rust easier.

When creating a VM, there are two very distinct design patterns, that greatly vary in their intended use case.

Special Purpose VMs

Special Purpose VMs are highly optimized for a specific use case. They only allow a very limited set of operations closely knit to its use case. A popular example for this would be the VM of the Bitcoin blockchain. The operations are much more limited than the ones of the Ethereum Virtual Machines, hence it only allows transactions related to the transfer of BTC.

General Purpose

General Purpose VMs introduce another layer - commonly know as Smart Contracts or Programs - that can be submitted to the VM and enable user of the chain to interact with these. This way it allows its users to introduce their own logic to the VM. The most common General Purpose VM is the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). However, some Avalanche L1s creators might want to create a VM that utilizes another language, such as Move, instead of Solidity as it’s smart contract language.

One of the EVM's key features is its capability to execution of smart contracts in a deterministic and trustless manner, ensuring that the outcome of their execution is predictable and verifiable by all network participants. Developers can create decentralized applications and deploy them on the Ethereum blockchain.

This enables a wide range of use cases including decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenization, supply chain management, and more. The EVM's flexibility, security, and compatibility have made it a fundamental component of the Ethereum ecosystem, powering a vibrant and rapidly evolving ecosystem of decentralized applications and services.