Neon Labs plans to deploy an Ethereum-based smart contract layer on the Solana blockchain on Dec. 12.
Known as Neon EVM, the solution aims to bring support for Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) — a mechanism that will allow developers to write Ethereum applications on top of Solana. Over the last few years, EVM has become the most widely adopted computing standard for developing smart contracts.
Neon's implementation will be a smart contract platform built on top of Solana that lets developers deploy Ethereum-based applications — something that’s not been possible so far on the network. Solana’s existing smart contract framework is not EVM-compatible. Therefore developing Ethereum apps on Solana isn’t possible. Neon wants to change that by adopting the developer tools and compute layer present on Ethereum, thereby reducing friction for Ethereum developers looking to expand to Solana.
"Ethereum-based projects can, for the first time, tap into the previously inaccessible audience and liquidity of Solana without needing to rewrite their code in Rust," Marina Guryeva, CEO and Founder of Neon Labs, said. As a result, users will now get to enjoy enhanced user experiences on Solana without losing out on Ethereum’s battle-tested dApps," they added.
Notable Ethereum-based projects — including Aave, Curve, and Sobal — are gearing up for launch on Neon EVM once its mainnet launch goes live.
Last year, Neon Labs raised $40 million from Jump Capital, IDEO CoLab Ventures and Solana Capital, amongst others.