The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is a software platform that processes transactions and smart-contract-based applications (dApps) on Ethereum and other EVM-based blockchains. More specifically, the EVM is a state machine that governs how new blockchain states are created from one block to another. Conceptually, the EVM can be considered a decentralized computer that facilitates all the tasks of its internal blockchain.

While there can be only one canonical Ethereum blockchain, any EVM-based blockchain may be created. Most EVM smart contracts are programmed in and compiled from the Solidity programming language, initially proposed by Gavin Wood in 2014 and developed by the Ethereum foundation and Solidity team. However, there is a range of other supported languages.