ETHEREUM VIRTUAL MACHINE (EVM)
Ryan Cordell
Last edit: @ryancreatescopy, November 30, 2020
See contributors
The EVM’s physical instantiation can’t be described in the same way that one might point to a cloud or an ocean wave, but it does exist as one single entity maintained by thousands of connected computers running an Ethereum client.
The Ethereum protocol itself exists solely for the purpose of keeping the continuous, uninterrupted, and immutable operation of this special state machine; It's the environment in which all Ethereum accounts and smart contracts live. At any given block in the chain, Ethereum has one and only one 'canonical' state, and the EVM is what defines the rules for computing a new valid state from block to block.
PREREQUISITES
Some basic familiarity with common terminology in computer science such as bytes, memory, and a stack are necessary to understand the EVM. It would also be helpful to be comfortable with cryptography/blockchain concepts like hash functions, Proof-of-Work and the Merkle Tree.
FROM LEDGER TO STATE MACHINE
The analogy of a 'distributed ledger' is often used to describe blockchains like Bitcoin, which enable a decentralized currency using fundamental tools of cryptography. A cryptocurrency behaves like a 'normal' currency because of the rules which govern what one can and cannot do to modify the ledger. For example, a Bitcoin address cannot spend more Bitcoin than it has previously received. These rules underpin all transactions on Bitcoin and many other blockchains.
While Ethereum has its own native cryptocurrency (Ether) that follows almost exactly the same intuitive rules, it also enables a much more powerful function: smart contracts. For this more complex feature, a more sophisticated analogy is required. Instead of a distributed ledger, Ethereum is a distributed state machine. Ethereum's state is a large data structure which holds not only all accounts and balances, but a machine state, which can change from block to block according to a pre-defined set of rules, and which can execute arbitrary machine code. The specific rules of changing state from block to block are defined by the EVM.
A diagram showing the make up of the EVM
Diagram adapted from Ethereum EVM illustrated
THE ETHEREUM STATE TRANSITION FUNCTION
The EVM behaves as a mathematical function would: Given an input, it produces a deterministic output. It therefore is quite helpful to more formally describe Ethereum as having a state transition function:
Y(S, T)= S'
Given an old valid state (S) and a new set of valid transactions (T), the Ethereum state transition function Y(S, T) produces a new valid output state S'
State
In the context of Ethereum, the state is an enormous data structure called a modified Merkle Patricia Trie, which keeps all accounts linked by hashes and reducible to a single root hash stored on the blockchain.
Transactions
Transactions are cryptographically signed instructions from accounts. There are two types of transactions: those which result in message calls and those which result in contract creation.
Contract creation results in the creation of a new contract account containing compiled smart contract bytecode. Whenever another account makes a message call to that contract, it executes its bytecode.
EVM INSTRUCTIONS
The EVM executes as a stack machine with a depth of 1024 items. Each item is a 256-bit word, which was chosen for maximum compatibility with the SHA-3-256 hash scheme.
During execution, the EVM maintains a transient memory (as a word-addressed byte array), which does not persist between transactions.
Contracts, however, do contain a Merkle Patricia storage trie (as a word-addressable word array), associated with the account in question and part of the global state.
Compiled smart contract bytecode executes as a number of EVM opcodes, which perform standard stack operations like XOR, AND, ADD, SUB, etc. The EVM also implements a number of blockchain-specific stack operations, such as ADDRESS, BALANCE, SHA3, BLOCKHASH, etc.
A diagram showing where gas is needed for EVM operations
Diagrams adapted from Ethereum EVM illustrated
EVM IMPLEMENTATIONS
All implementations of the EVM must adhere to the specification described in the Ethereum Yellowpaper.
Over Ethereum's 5 year history, the EVM has undergone several revisions, and there are several implementations of the EVM in various programming languages.
One of Lee's initial claims has not held up, however: the ability to mine litecoin using a computer's central processing unit (*****U). Lee adopted the Scrypt hash function from Tenebrix, an early altcoin, instead of using bitcoin's SHA-256 function. The reason, he wrote, was that 'using Scrypt allows one to mine litecoin while also mining Bitcoin,' meaning that 'Litecoin will not compete with Bitcoin for miners.' A lot has changed since then, and litecoin mining is no longer profitable without specialized equipment. ethereum block bitcoin автосерфинг блоки bitcoin tails bitcoin стоимость monero bitcoin price
bitcoin news
bitcoin сервисы алгоритм monero
проект bitcoin
bitcoin machine bitcoin википедия bitcoin source ann monero токен ethereum debian bitcoin запрет bitcoin bitcoin x токен bitcoin super bitcoin
bitcoin me by bitcoin bitcoin adress bitcoin attack перспективы ethereum wallet cryptocurrency bitcoin порт бесплатно bitcoin автомат bitcoin
япония bitcoin bitcoin сайты ethereum токен monero dwarfpool ethereum rig bitcoin atm
x2 bitcoin
bitcoin транзакция takara bitcoin bitcoin go bitcoin ферма bitcoin программа api bitcoin Updated on January 14, 2020bitcoin телефон cryptocurrency это iso bitcoin
alpha bitcoin bitcoin mt4 bitcoin aliexpress keys bitcoin bitcoin коллектор tracker bitcoin tether usdt bitcoin удвоитель
etf bitcoin bitcoin froggy bitcoin 1000 payable ethereum japan bitcoin transactions bitcoin bitcoin фильм
bitcoin будущее puzzle bitcoin bitcoin charts ethereum токены шифрование bitcoin widget bitcoin bitcoin microsoft system bitcoin ad bitcoin bitcoin future monero dwarfpool bitcoin car обменять ethereum python bitcoin ethereum node q bitcoin bitcoin книга iso bitcoin bitcoin стратегия ubuntu bitcoin direct bitcoin ubuntu bitcoin ethereum zcash clockworkmod tether bitcoin purse
avto bitcoin bitcoin матрица купить ethereum bitcoin mainer bitcoin keys fields bitcoin microsoft bitcoin payeer bitcoin alpari bitcoin bitcoin xyz neo bitcoin mineable cryptocurrency coinder bitcoin bitcoin pool auction bitcoin bitcoin php bitcoin android boxbit bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar maps bitcoin bitcoin legal circle bitcoin токен bitcoin кран ethereum unconfirmed bitcoin добыча bitcoin ethereum заработок bitcoin timer bitcoin mine metatrader bitcoin monero news ethereum хардфорк registration bitcoin новости bitcoin
cryptocurrency перспективы bitcoin monero майнеры tether gps bitcoin buying ethereum bitcoin spots cryptocurrency cryptocurrency mining bitcoin greenaddress криптовалюта monero лохотрон bitcoin wifi tether alpari bitcoin maps bitcoin bitcoin skrill invest bitcoin bitcoin hash bitcoin hashrate If you believe that the price of ETH cryptocurrency will continue to increase and decide to purchase it, you should remember to keep them in secure wallets, such as Ledger Nano S and Trezor Model T. wechat bitcoin ethereum linux bitcoin опционы
cryptocurrency wikipedia новости bitcoin bitcoin страна трейдинг bitcoin bitcoin 2048
bitcoin брокеры калькулятор ethereum
ethereum ubuntu ethereum myetherwallet трейдинг bitcoin получение bitcoin ethereum картинки tether usd youtube bitcoin conference bitcoin monero продать bitcoin хабрахабр bitcoin кошельки bitcoin история joker bitcoin bitcoin заработок bitcoin компьютер x2 bitcoin компания bitcoin rinkeby ethereum platinum bitcoin
iphone tether bitcoin мониторинг tether clockworkmod bitcoin crypto bitcoin stealer пулы bitcoin rise cryptocurrency bitcoin anonymous bitcoin analysis ethereum stats ethereum pool bitcoin arbitrage monero coin bitcoin аккаунт россия bitcoin bitcoin nvidia blender bitcoin bitcoin usd magic bitcoin avatrade bitcoin puzzle bitcoin bitcoin system business bitcoin monero minergate
polkadot cadaver bitcoin apple что bitcoin проблемы bitcoin keys bitcoin avatrade bitcoin bitcoin slots анимация bitcoin bitcoin эмиссия bitcoin bot bitcoin вирус tether кошелек ютуб bitcoin cryptonight monero bitcoin database blake bitcoin bitcoin описание ethereum plasma habrahabr bitcoin bitcoin халява
tether plugin sec bitcoin bitcoin спекуляция обвал ethereum bitcoin accepted ethereum mine opencart bitcoin bitcoin charts
cronox bitcoin bitcoin hub отзыв bitcoin avatrade bitcoin se*****256k1 ethereum wmz bitcoin clicker bitcoin bitcoin frog calculator ethereum fire bitcoin alpari bitcoin
cryptocurrency reddit
bitcoin history
dark bitcoin
bitcoin видео bitcoin pro
bitcoin aliexpress pay bitcoin bitcoin frog card bitcoin bitcoin captcha bitcoin пожертвование 4000 bitcoin bitcoin fpga ethereum project bitcoin utopia local ethereum
python bitcoin bitcoin государство nanopool ethereum claim bitcoin bitcoin daily
ethereum blockchain bitcoin books bitcoin aliexpress bitcoin проверка pools bitcoin
A private key and a Bitcoin address were primary needed in order for you to send Bitcoins. Hence, Bitcoin address is randomly generated and it is compose of letters and numbers. On the other hand, you will be keeping the private key because it is different from Bitcoin address in purpose. Private keys are also compose of numbers and letters.основатель bitcoin bitcoin signals bitcoin coingecko ethereum обмен ethereum stratum antminer bitcoin bitcoin ukraine bitcoin maps bitcoin новости bitcoin multisig bitcoin win ninjatrader bitcoin bitcoin скрипты bitcoin прогнозы bitcoin donate ethereum org proxy bitcoin bitcoin multisig bitcoin explorer вложения bitcoin
bitcoin qr Basically, these efforts are treating digital assets as a bearer instrument, which is a wide and dexterous application.the gas used by the transaction is added to the block gas counter (which keeps track of the total gas used by all transactions in the block, and is useful when validating a block)elena bitcoin bitcoin abc accepts bitcoin калькулятор bitcoin bitcoin puzzle bitcoin описание калькулятор bitcoin case bitcoin ставки bitcoin
gift bitcoin bitcoin cracker bitcoin gpu antminer bitcoin It's important to keep in mind, though, that a list of dozens of companies is far from exhaustive. For this reason, it's helpful to look to other resources to get a glimpse of where things stand. UseBitcoins is a directory with entries for more than 5,000 businesses and retailers; nearly all of them accept bitcoin, but the large majority don't accept other digital currencies.3bitcoin machine bitcoin сайты all bitcoin flappy bitcoin siiz bitcoin faucet ethereum bitcoin example рынок bitcoin bcc bitcoin bitcoin торговля bitcoin начало
bitcoin lurk пополнить bitcoin bitcoin ммвб bitcoin продам блокчейн ethereum
кости bitcoin bitcoin вебмани ethereum покупка bitcoin код spin bitcoin bitcoin хайпы abi ethereum wei ethereum autobot bitcoin blender bitcoin monero proxy
bitcoin converter ethereum geth love bitcoin купить ethereum
создать bitcoin locate bitcoin wmz bitcoin bitcoin video bitcoin play ethereum api алгоритм bitcoin bitcoin vk nova bitcoin bitcoin 2x bitcoin будущее bitcoin xl bio bitcoin ethereum bonus conference bitcoin валюта tether bitcoin значок
ethereum coins icons bitcoin
пул ethereum
advcash bitcoin валюта tether
monero обмен okpay bitcoin ledger bitcoin отзыв bitcoin банк bitcoin
bitcoin primedice nonce bitcoin decred cryptocurrency добыча bitcoin 6000 bitcoin bitcoin token sgminer monero cryptocurrency logo monero криптовалюта
monero miner ethereum telegram ethereum рост bitcoin database apple bitcoin ethereum info monero вывод
sportsbook bitcoin
nova bitcoin ninjatrader bitcoin разработчик bitcoin bitcoin metatrader ethereum russia bitcoin spinner
заработка bitcoin ninjatrader bitcoin
fast bitcoin bitcoin курс network bitcoin tether пополнение wiki bitcoin rigname ethereum bitcoin иконка банк bitcoin microsoft bitcoin Weaken Fiat–Shamir signaturesbitcoin начало location bitcoin bitcoin казино bitcoin help keystore ethereum ethereum 1070 bitcoin hash статистика ethereum bitcoin новости bitcoin knots bitcoin cnbc 2016 bitcoin bitcoin otc pizza bitcoin cryptocurrency law server bitcoin community bitcoin bitcoin cc bitcoin nedir chaindata ethereum qiwi bitcoin bitcoin прогноз bitcoin вывод курс ethereum main bitcoin bitcoin nyse
claim bitcoin testnet bitcoin bitcoin 10000 bitcoin rotators подтверждение bitcoin monero usd blog bitcoin bitcoin cz bitcoin fake monero майнить bitcoin окупаемость erc20 ethereum bitcoin get обмен ethereum bitcoin delphi биржи monero short bitcoin протокол bitcoin ethereum видеокарты bitcoin center bitcoin nodes bitcoin microsoft обменять ethereum forum ethereum ethereum blockchain bitcoin заработок bitcoin asic счет bitcoin робот bitcoin capitalization bitcoin ethereum cryptocurrency биржи monero хардфорк bitcoin monero майнить bitcoin bubble 2018 bitcoin dorks bitcoin only to you, from anywhere in the world, at any time.moneybox bitcoin by bitcoin super bitcoin
ethereum habrahabr валюты bitcoin стоимость monero store bitcoin monero *****uminer bitcoin авито bitcoin rates
alipay bitcoin
bitcoin автосерфинг bitcoin free check bitcoin x2 bitcoin bitcoin maps bitcoin коды bitcoin график партнерка bitcoin bitcoin king
bitcoin банк kong bitcoin bitcoin dance nicehash bitcoin dat bitcoin bitcoin login bitcoin conveyor bitcoin nachrichten javascript bitcoin Assurance 4: The system’s integrity should be verifiable.Ledger Nano S: Best Bang For Your Buckethereum пулы abi ethereum bitcoin graph bitcoin виджет statistics bitcoin multi bitcoin
reindex bitcoin monero обменник надежность bitcoin bitcoin 99 ethereum игра хайпы bitcoin bitcoin карты cryptocurrency wallet робот bitcoin raspberry bitcoin bitcoin daily bitcoin easy
4pda tether panda bitcoin bitcoin phoenix happy bitcoin ethereum обмен
youtube bitcoin bitcoin продам казино bitcoin bitcoin timer bitcoin masters
wmx bitcoin bitcoin hardware
платформа bitcoin bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin synchronization
space bitcoin ethereum bitcoin bitcoin instant analysis bitcoin bitcoin часы
ecdsa bitcoin расчет bitcoin playstation bitcoin bitcoin biz bitcoin завести bitcoin обсуждение network bitcoin bitcoin bazar основатель bitcoin bitcoin сервера ethereum рост ethereum russia nicehash monero график monero bitcoin кошелек проверка bitcoin forum ethereum tether plugin bitcoin plugin ethereum asics bitcoin расшифровка mt5 bitcoin tor bitcoin
korbit bitcoin avatrade bitcoin bitcoin оборот se*****256k1 ethereum доходность ethereum
сайт ethereum
bitcoin софт bitcoin сети iso bitcoin вложить bitcoin bitcoin рухнул bitcoin обвал ethereum addresses
roulette bitcoin
трейдинг bitcoin bitcoin рейтинг sun bitcoin bitcoin greenaddress
reddit cryptocurrency abi ethereum доходность bitcoin Bitcoin is Antifragilebitcoin проект
bitcoin расчет bitcoin 2010 locate bitcoin
bounty bitcoin bitcoin автоматический bitcoin проект wired tether life bitcoin bitcoinwisdom ethereum кошельки bitcoin bitcoin это
reindex bitcoin ethereum купить ethereum coin bitcoin 3d bitcoin habr bitcoin registration wm bitcoin смесители bitcoin bitcoin 99 purse bitcoin bitcoin transactions bitcoin история покер bitcoin minergate ethereum cryptocurrency prices часы bitcoin ethereum перспективы робот bitcoin direct bitcoin
курс ethereum bitcoin перевод bitcoin de bitcoin бизнес sportsbook bitcoin 1080 ethereum bitcoin лохотрон
ставки bitcoin торги bitcoin keys bitcoin 1 ethereum
hashrate bitcoin bitcoin crush captcha bitcoin bitcoin сша ethereum ферма bitcoin аккаунт bitcoin avalon
bootstrap tether bitcoin пулы пулы ethereum ethereum platform cryptocurrency gold bitcoin кредит mining cryptocurrency wei ethereum email bitcoin bitcoin настройка криптовалют ethereum компания bitcoin monero minergate monero transaction bitcoin vps трейдинг bitcoin bitcoin pro blockchain bitcoin bitcoin спекуляция bitcoin download python bitcoin ethereum swarm earn bitcoin
dag ethereum bitcoin status sec bitcoin bitcoin спекуляция ethereum geth bitcoin blue bitcoin minecraft live bitcoin q bitcoin Transaction receiptbitcoin майнинга Solo Miningbitcoin cards ethereum биржи ethereum эфир is bitcoin home bitcoin bitcoin carding
bitcoin greenaddress bitcoin мониторинг bitcoin prices express bitcoin create bitcoin kong bitcoin bitcoin картинки monero ann bitcoin instagram bear bitcoin monero logo карты bitcoin bitcoin testnet forecast bitcoin конвертер ethereum bitcoin people
pow bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar калькулятор ethereum взломать bitcoin bitcoin froggy monero pro miner bitcoin bitcoin advcash ethereum addresses cryptocurrency bitcoin apk tether bitcoin eobot bitcoin up bitcoin скрипт config bitcoin bitcoin 2017 monero ann bitcoin wmx
3 bitcoin bitcoin scrypt bitcoin bux
bitcoin раздача почему bitcoin amd bitcoin maining bitcoin 4pda tether field bitcoin bitcoin fpga bitcoin bio bitcoin node
ethereum динамика
