Competitor Comparison
The following section highlights the differences between Ethereum and Venom.
Venom differs from EVM-based blockchains in four key areas:
- Blockchain architecture
- Communication between accounts
- Gas model and fees
- Smart contract languages
The following table provides an overview of how Ethereum and Venom differ:
Area | Ethereum | Venom |
Blockchain architecture | Global world computer, competition for resources, high costs of computing | Multi-core system, dynamic sharding, scalability, efficient computing costs |
Communication | Synchronous communication | Asynchronous communication |
Gas model and fees | Used to limit the number of computational steps | Used to incentivize efficient use |
Smart contract languages | Single-language (Solidity) | Multi-language |
Let's take a closer look at each area in the following.
Ethereum
Ethereum’s virtual machine is designed as a “global computer” which is accessible to the entire world. This comes at the disadvantage that the world is competing for Ethereum’s computing resources. Smart contract calls and transactions are executed in a sequential order, meaning only one call can be executed at a time.
This architecture increases the cost for computing and reduces throughput. Even simple tasks such as minting an NFT, swapping tokens, or sending value are expensive and may take some minutes to execute. The reason for this is that the user’s transaction competes with all other transactions in the network that were sent at around the same time.
Venom
The Venom blockchain’s architecture can be best described as a multi-core system. It consists of several different layers (Masterchain, Workchains, and Shardchains) which ensure its dynamic scalability and enable asynchronous communication between smart contracts. Venom’s threaded virtual machine (TVM) uses dynamic sharding to be able to flexibly scale based on demand.
Tasks (such as value transfers, minting of NFTs, etc.) are shared between groups of validators. Fast execution times are made possible as one task does not depend on the completion of another task for it to be executed. This means that all interactions are asynchronous and can be executed simultaneously.
The way smart contracts communicate with each other is an important area of differentiation between Ethereum and Venom.
EVM
EVM-based networks treat transactions as an atomic unit, meaning that all transactions need to be individually executed by validators in a serial, one-at-a-time order.
Each transaction in the network relies on the completion of the previous transaction before it can be executed. EVM-based networks execute transactions in a synchronous way, meaning that all transactions need to be processed one after another.
TVM
Venom’s TVM utilizes an asynchronous model for the communication between smart contracts. When a transaction is executed, it is not required to update the state of all smart contracts in the network. Instead, smart contracts in the Venom network only process the messages that directly address them. This model of communication allows transactions to be processed in parallel and asynchronously which increases the speed in which transactions are processed.
Ethereum
Ethereum’s gas model is designed to limit the computational steps a transaction is able to perform. Gas fees are calculated based on the current gas price in the network and the amount of gas required to process the transaction.
Venom
In the Venom network, fees are calculated based on several different factors. These factors include gas fees but also fees for forwarding messages and data storage. Venom’s gas model is designed to incentivize the efficient use of data storage space, encouraging developers to build applications that minimize storage use. Consequently, the gas model helps to prevent network congestion.
Venom users can define how many $VENOM tokens they wish to spend as payment fees for the execution of their transaction. This defined value acts as the upper limit which will not be exceeded. If the fees are lower than the user’s input, the change will be returned to the user.
Ethereum
The Ethereum network is a single-language ecosystem in which Solidity is used as the language for programming smart contracts. It is a statically typed programming language specifically designed for creating smart contracts on Ethereum. Solidity is easy to use because of its familiarity with other programming languages.
Venom
Venom is a multi-language ecosystem that is designed to be language-agnostic. This allows developers to utilize different languages for writing their smart contracts.
Venom’s native programming language is called T-Sol (Threaded Solidity). It is designed specifically for the TVM Actor Model of the Venom blockchain.
T-Sol provides support for the following key features of the TVM platform which contribute to Venom’s efficiency and security:
- Callbacks
- Message passing
- Fee management
- Managing actor states
- State isolation
T-Sol uses the same syntax as Solidity and is therefore easy to use for developers familiar with Solidity.