Counterparty’s EVM Port Advances Integration of Ethereum Smart Contracts and Bitcoin Blockchain

Rage Comment : The blockchain field has always hoped to make up for the shortcomings of Bitcoin by improving technology. Blockchain startup Counterparty has become the first company to release this solution. Its EVM port can realize the integration of Ethereum smart contracts and Bitcoin blockchain. The DAO attack has shaken people's confidence in blockchain. Currently, any solution proposed by the community has encountered a lot of controversy. However, Counterparty's solution is in line with the expectations of the blockchain field and may gain more support.

Translation: Annie_Xu

Blockchain startup Counterparty plans to release Ethereum's Virtual Machine (EVM) on a test network within two weeks. Its developer Ruben de Vries is working on this goal, which will eventually bring Ethereum smart contracts to the Bitcoin system.

At the end of 2014, Counterparty developed a proof-of-concept EVM port; and this port is still the latest EVM software on the Ethereum network; its development team believes that this port can already be used on Counterparty or Bitcoin's main network. In addition, it adds smart contracts to interact with Counterparty assets.

Counterparty’s EVM test coverage has reached 85% and continues to grow; making it higher than the coverage of the Pyethereum programming language; which happens to be the core Python codebase of the Ethereum project.

Just last month, news broke that Counterparty was preparing to bring Ethereum smart contracts to the Bitcoin blockchain.

The Counterparty team’s press release states: “Our final release will include full EVM functionality and be fully compatible with existing Ethereum smart contracts that can interact with Counterparty assets.”

Of course, in addition to sending ether, most programs rely on Ethereum smart contracts. But Counterparty is different. Its system is designed so that its core features are completely independent of any smart contract functions. "This means that anyone can create, transfer and decentralize features with the tested Counterparty assets without interacting with other smart contracts."

The DAO Attack

Recently, The DAO was hacked, but Counterparty said that the development of its EVM port will continue as usual, but a new anti-rollback rule has been added. "This rule prohibits the Counterparty development team from releasing code to fork or rollback the network in response to certain smart contract vulnerabilities (in the case of EVM vulnerabilities causing failures rather than specific smart contract vulnerabilities, the development team will of course write and release vulnerability patches)."

Ruben de Vries

"I think The DAO incident dealt a heavy blow to enterprise adoption and enthusiasm; especially to Ethereum, which has enterprise support," said Ruben de Vries, a developer at Counterparty. "I believe users will lose enthusiasm for the technology, but it will make users more realistic about the short-term usability of the technology. It will take time for the technology to develop and mature, and I would advise everyone to be wary of the above issues."

The Counterparty community believes that they will have ultimate control over the EVM; the addition of the XCP voting mechanism to its protocol further secures their position. Counterparty also has internal plans to strengthen the EVM's security features. This feature allows a certain percentage of XCP holders to "quickly shut down parts of the EVM subsystem while the Counterparty network as a whole continues to operate normally."

Ruben de Vries said: "The main reason for the anti-rollback rule is ideological. Counterparty operates in the same way as Bitcoin: non-profit, fully decentralized, and community-driven. Using a hard fork to recover funds will destroy users' confidence in the blockchain and increase conflicts of interest. At the same time, the decision to hard fork may involve Ethereum developer funds. From a practical point of view, rollback is the responsibility of the developer. If developers can use rollback to recover funds, developers may need to bear greater legal responsibility for activities on the blockchain."

While Counterparty’s anti-rollback feature is the main reason why it is superior to Ethereum, it also has a significant negative impact on Counterparty smart contract users and developers. Given the rapid progress of blockchain among large banks and startups, Counterparty’s EVM provides more options for individuals who are eager to develop smart contract networks.