Web3 Meta-Crisis Wiki

Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)

3 min read

Definition

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is the computational engine at the heart of the Ethereum protocol. It is a global, decentralized computer that executes smart contracts and manages the state of the Ethereum blockchain.

Core Architecture

Quasi-Turing-Complete State Machine

  • Turing-complete: Ability to run any program, given enough resources
  • “Quasi” qualifier: All execution processes are finite, limited by gas mechanism
  • Security: Prevents infinite loops and denial-of-service attacks
  • Sandboxed environment: Code execution completely isolated from host machine

Data Components

  • Volatile memory: Temporary data during execution
  • Permanent storage: Part of Ethereum state, persists across transactions
  • Stack: For computations and function calls

Execution Process

  1. High-level languages (Solidity, Vyper) → Bytecode (EVM instructions)
  2. Opcodes: Set of instructions processed by EVM
  3. State transition function: Y(S,T)=S′ where S=current state, T=transactions, S′=new state
  4. Global state update: All account balances and smart contract data

Key Properties

Deterministic Execution

  • Same input always produces same output
  • Enables consensus across decentralized network
  • Critical for trustless coordination

Gas Mechanism

  • Computational cost: Every operation has fixed gas cost
  • Security: Prevents network abuse and infinite loops
  • Economic model: Users pay for computational resources

Network Effects

  • Industry standard: De facto standard for smart contract execution
  • EVM-compatible chains: Polygon, BNB Smart Chain, Avalanche
  • Interoperability: dApps portable across multiple chains
  • Composability: Standardized interface enables building blocks

Affordances and Potentials

Beneficial Potentials

  • Decentralized Applications: Powers entire ecosystem of dApps
  • Complex Financial Instruments: Enables sophisticated DeFi protocols, DAOs
  • Interoperability: Easy porting across EVM-compatible blockchains
  • Project Management: Blockchain state management principles applicable to objective progress measurement

Detrimental Potentials

  • Exploitable Code: Any flaws in smart contract logic can be exploited
  • Computational Limits: Gas constraints can make complex computations prohibitively expensive
  • “Out of gas” errors: Users lose transaction fees without transaction success

Role in Web3 Stack

The EVM serves as the foundational execution layer for:

Technical Specifications

Gas Costs

  • Simple operations: 3-5 gas units
  • Storage operations: 20,000 gas units
  • Complex computations: Variable, based on computational complexity

Opcodes

  • Arithmetic: ADD, SUB, MUL, DIV
  • Logical: AND, OR, NOT, XOR
  • Storage: SSTORE, SLOAD
  • Control flow: JUMP, JUMPI, CALL, RETURN

References

Graph View

Backlinks