In a remarkable stride towards blockchain interoperability, Neon EVM, an ingenious solution that smoothes the transition of Ethereum dApps to the Solana network, has launched its exclusive closed beta. This is a notable development in the global cryptocurrency and blockchain landscape and is particularly relevant for South Africa’s expanding crypto community. The project aims to bridge the gap between the two dominant blockchains, Ethereum and Solana, facilitating seamless transactions and harmonious integration.
In detail, Neon EVM grants Ethereum developers the chance to tap into the benefits of the Solana network. These perks range from reduced fees to increased transaction speeds, and the capacity for parallel transaction processing. This solution is particularly appealing in a market like South Africa, where an increasing number of individuals and companies are exploring blockchain technology for various applications.
Historically, Solana’s swift organic growth and fast-paced functionality have been somewhat limited by its incompatibility with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), leaving a considerable portion of the market untouched. It’s estimated that several hundreds of millions in total value locked (TVL), millions of users, and an entire ecosystem has been unreachable for EVM multichain dApp developers. However, with Neon EVM’s groundbreaking solution, Solana has transformed into a more attractive option for multichain builders, drawing on the strengths of both chains and securing finality of settlements on Solana.
Neon EVM’s introduction of its closed beta version, termed Neon EVMβ, to Solana’s Mainnet marks a crucial progression in its developmental roadmap. This version of Neon EVM is fully operational, offering an exceptional feature – it supports transactions free of charge. As it operates, all transactions settle to Solana’s layer 1 (L1) and require payment in Sol, as per any typical Solana-settled transaction. The twist comes in the beta phase, where the NEON token is not solicited by the Proxy Operator tasked with accepting the transaction request and ensuring its finalization.
The closed beta launch facilitates a robust ecosystem that comprises more than just the Neon EVM and the Proxy Operators that validate and finalize transaction requests. The ecosystem incorporates Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO), oracles, indexers, wallets, multisignatures, bridges, explorers, and more. The closed beta version provides an opportunity for all these participants to deploy and test their services to ensure smooth integration before the official launch on Solana Mainnet.
Why was a closed beta launch preferred over a Shadow Mainnet launch on a Solana mainchain fork? Deploying directly to Mainnet provides significant advantages, one of the most important being that tested and deployed contracts retain their addresses on Solana Mainnet.
The closed beta phase enables the Neon EVM team to gradually introduce and test the services of ecosystem participants in manageable stages. Launching in this mode also allows budget control by limiting the activity to an invitation-only list. Although the Proxy Operator isn’t charging a fee, the Solana network does, making cost prediction for an open beta nearly impossible.
As the testing phase wraps up and NEON tokens become available in the market to pay for transactions, Neon EVM will revert to its standard operating model. Independent Proxy Operators (including P2P and Everstake) will resume the role of accepting and processing transactions. Proxy Operator’s RPC endpoints will be made accessible on ChainList.
For South Africans looking to get involved in this exciting venture, the Neon EVM community is accessible via Twitter and their highly active Discord channel. An in-depth overview of Neon EVM’s technical architecture and features can be found in the whitepaper available at NeonEVM.org/whitepaper.pdf
