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Smart Contract Basics

Gain a deep understanding of smart contracts on Polkadot, from execution environments to transaction mechanics.

This section covers the essential components of the ecosystem.

Key Topics

Explore foundational concepts that shape smart contract functionality on Polkadot:

  • PolkaVM design – insights into PolkaVM’s architecture, Ethereum compatibility, and optimized execution
  • EVM vs PolkaVM – a comparison of Ethereum's EVM and PolkaVM, highlighting key differences in design, gas models, and memory management
  • Accounts – how accounts function within Polkadot’s ecosystem, including existential deposits and contract account handling
  • Networks – an overview of smart contract-enabled networks within the Polkadot ecosystem
  • Blocks, transactions, and fees – understanding transaction lifecycle, execution fees, and resource management

In This Section

Overview

Learn how developers can build smart contracts on Polkadot by leveraging either Wasm/ink! or EVM contracts across many parachains.

PolkaVM Design

Discover PolkaVM, a high-performance smart contract VM for Polkadot, enabling Ethereum compatibility via pallet_revive, Solidity support & optimized execution.

EVM vs PolkaVM

Compares EVM and PolkaVM, highlighting key architectural differences, gas models, memory management, and account handling while ensuring Solidity compatibility.

Accounts

Bridges Ethereum's 20-byte addresses with Polkadot's 32-byte accounts, enabling seamless interaction while maintaining compatibility with Ethereum tooling.

Networks

Explore the available networks for smart contract development on Asset Hub, including Westend Asset Hub, Kusama Asset Hub, and Polkadot Asset Hub.

Blocks, Transactions and Fees

Explore how Asset Hub smart contracts handle blocks, transactions, and fees with EVM compatibility, supporting various Ethereum transaction types.