EVM vs WASM Chains: App Rewrites

Specific advantage: Access to $60B+ DeFi TVL and 4,000+ dApps. This matters for projects needing immediate liquidity, users, and composability with giants like Aave, Uniswap, and MakerDAO. The developer tooling (Hardhat, Foundry) and audit expertise are mature.

Specific advantage: Gas costs are deterministic and well-understood. This matters for financial applications where precise fee calculation is critical for user experience and contract logic (e.g., MEV strategies, batch transactions). Tools like Etherscan and Tenderly provide universal debugging.

Specific advantage: Near-native execution speed and support for Rust, C++, and Go. This matters for compute-intensive dApps like order-book DEXs, high-frequency games, or complex simulations (e.g., Fuel Network's parallel execution). Developers aren't locked into Solidity.

Specific advantage: WebAssembly is a modern, sandboxed VM standard maintained by W3C. This matters for long-term infrastructure projects seeking future-proofing, easier formal verification, and more elegant contract upgrade patterns without proxies (e.g., CosmWasm, Polkadot's parachains).

• DeFi Protocols requiring deep liquidity pools and forkability.
• NFT Projects targeting the largest collector base on OpenSea.
• Teams with existing Solidity expertise and tight timelines.
• Applications where ecosystem tooling is more critical than peak performance.

• Gaming & Metaverse engines needing high TPS and low latency.
• Novel L1/L2 Architectures building from scratch (e.g., NEAR, Elrond).
• Enterprise Consortia leveraging existing Rust/C++ codebases.
• Projects prioritizing maximum performance and willing to build missing tooling.

Native cross-chain portability: Code written for Ethereum can be deployed to Polygon, Arbitrum, Base, and other major L2s with minimal changes. This matters for protocols like Aave and Uniswap that require multi-chain presence. The EVM is the de facto standard, supported by bridges and oracles (Chainlink) across dozens of chains.

Modern, non-legacy architecture: No 256-bit integer constraints or gas metering quirks. Enables cleaner fee markets and parallel execution. This matters for architects building novel consensus mechanisms or app-specific chains (like Cosmos SDK zones) who need fine-grained control over the runtime environment.

When ecosystem liquidity and talent are critical. If you're forking an existing DeFi protocol (e.g., a DEX or lending market) or building an NFT project, the EVM's tooling (OpenZeppelin), auditors, and user base (MetaMask) drastically reduce time and risk. Ideal for ventures with sub-6-month launch timelines.

When you need maximum throughput or language freedom. If you're building a high-performance order-book DEX, an on-chain game engine, or a protocol requiring complex cryptography, WASM's efficiency is a decisive advantage. Suited for teams with Rust/C++ expertise and a longer R&D runway.

Dominant ecosystem: Access to 4,000+ verified smart contracts on Etherscan, $50B+ in DeFi TVL, and tools like Hardhat, Foundry, and MetaMask. This matters for rapid deployment and capital efficiency, as you can fork and integrate battle-tested code from protocols like Uniswap V3 or Aave.

Mature security landscape: The Solidity language, ERC-20/721 standards, and audit firms like OpenZeppelin and Trail of Bits have years of accumulated knowledge. This matters for enterprise-grade security and risk mitigation, reducing the attack surface for complex financial applications.

Superior execution speed: WASM is a low-level bytecode, enabling near-native execution and higher theoretical TPS (e.g., NEAR's 100k TPS sharding). This matters for high-frequency applications like order-book DEXs or gaming, where sub-second finality is critical.

Developer freedom: Write smart contracts in Rust, Go, C++, or AssemblyScript, not just a domain-specific language. This matters for hiring ease and leveraging existing codebases, allowing traditional backend engineers to build on-chain logic with familiar toolchains like Rust's Cargo.

Your priority is liquidity and composability. You're building a DeFi protocol that must interact with MakerDAO, Lido, or Chainlink from day one. You have a Solidity team and need the safety of standardized audits and insurance protocols like Nexus Mutual.

You need maximal performance or custom logic. You're building a high-throughput game, a custom privacy stack (like Aztec on Polkadot), or require complex computations unsuitable for the EVM's gas model. You value sovereignty and are willing to build your own cross-chain bridges.