Smart Contracts & Virtual Machines

Smart contracts play a pivotal role in blockchain technology, serving as self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement directly written into code. These contracts enable trustless and automated transactions, eliminating the need for intermediaries and enhancing transparency and efficiency in various industries.

However, one of the challenges associated with smart contracts is the limitation of programming languages available for their development. For instance, Ethereum primarily supports Solidity, while other blockchains may rely on languages like Rust. This limitation restricts developers to specific ecosystems and may hinder innovation and adoption.

Similarly, the reliance on a single virtual machine (VM) for executing smart contracts poses challenges. For example, Ethereum employs the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), while other blockchains may utilize WebAssembly (Wasm). This monoculture approach may lead to scalability issues, interoperability challenges, and potential vulnerabilities.

In the architecture of Cyclone, these issues are addressed by supporting Multiple & Scalable virtual machines, each capable of executing smart contracts written in different scripting languages, bytecode, or compiled binary formats. Each VM may have its own intermediate data storage and access to the blockchain's shared storage and transactions.

Transactions in Cyclone specify which VM should process them, allowing for flexibility and customization. Additionally, each VM must prevent user scripts from directly modifying blockchain records, instead implementing specific functions for data storage in a secure format to prevent double spending, fee evasion, and ensure data integrity.

As a default VM in the current implementation of Cyclone, Ottojs is utilized, offering full support for JavaScript. This choice provides developers with familiarity and flexibility in writing smart contracts while promoting interoperability and innovation within the Cyclone ecosystem.

Developers also have the option to propose new VMs, thereby expanding the variety of languages for writing smart contracts within the Cyclone Blockchain ecosystem.

Default VM documentation: Default Virtual Machine