Neon Labs deploys cross-chain Ethereum Virtual Machine on Solana

Blockchain developer Neon Labs has created a compatibility bridge between Ethereum and Solana, opening the door to more cross-chain development opportunities for Ethereum programmers.

Neon’s Ethereum Virtual Machine, or EVM, has deployed via testnet on Solana, the company announced Tuesday. The EVN grants any decentralized application on Ethereum access to Solana’s high throughput capacity and lower gas fees. Essentially, Neon EVM allows anyone to run Ethereum contracts directly on the Solana blockchain.

Even during the testnet phase, Neon’s EVM will support decentralized applications such as Uniswap, SushiSwap, MakerDAO and 0x. The mainnet is expected to launch later this quarter.

“Ethereum is a thriving blockchain ecosystem that has a lot to offer to dApp developers and users in terms of tools and infrastructure. At the same time, Solana is attractive to many due to its technical characteristics and is perceived as an emerging market,” said Marina Gureyeva, a director at Neon Labs. “Thanks to Neon EVM dApp developers will be easily tapping into the Solana market and offer users great experience without any difference in terms of interface or tools used.”

Solana CEO Anatoly Yakovenko said the Ethereum compatibility later will make it “significantly easier for EVN projects to take advantage of the low fees, ultra-fast speeds, and future-proof scalability of Solana.”

A multitude of developers and businesses are launching on the Solana blockchain. As Cointelegraph reported, Swiss-based Digital Assets AG recently launched tokenized stock offerings on Solana, giving traders the ability to access tokenized shares of leading blue-chip stocks like Facebook, Alphabet, Netflix and Tesla.

Related: Solana Labs raises $314M via private token sale as ecosystem support expands

Yakovenko believes Solana is in a position to onboard a billion users in the coming years as blockchain innovation shifts to the application layer. In the meantime, the protocol has attracted high-value investors from across the venture capital world, with the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, CoinShares, CMS Holdings and Alameda Research backing the project.