Neon EVM Development Status: Mainnet on the Horizon
Neon EVM is an EVM compatibility solution for the Solana blockchain. The tool allows Ethereum-like transactions to be processed on Solana so that Ethereum dApp developers can leverage their knowledge of Solidity, developer tooling, and existing codebases to build on Solana. The platform will also provide an environment that lets existing Ethereum projects port their dApps to Solana with no code or configuration changes.
Criteria to Launch a Fully Operational EVM
The are many pieces that must work together in order to create the minimum viable user and developer experiences for Neon EVM:
Neon Web3 Proxy
The Neon Web3 Proxy is an essential tool for packaging a Neon transaction into a Solana transaction. It improves the user experience for Operators in the Neon ecosystem and it allows Ethereum dApps to be ported to Neon with virtually no code or configuration changes as all the “translating” is handled by the proxy.
NeonPass: Solana <-> Neon Connectivity
NeonPass will be used to wrap and unwrap assets between Solana and Neon. This will be the primary tool for facilitating liquidity between the Solana and Neon ecosystems when Neon first launches on Mainnet.
Fully Functional Neon EVM Mainnet Infrastructure
Dedicated server infrastructure is important for deploying smart contracts to Mainnet as well as maintaining high performance and reliability for end-users. Private RPC nodes help ensure the smooth release of Neon EVM to Solana, allow for autoscaling based on user demand for RPC calls, and provide higher rate limits.
Integrations with Block Explorers
Block Explorers are infrastructure components expected by blockchain developers and end-users. These tools allow users to search blockchains for real-time and historic information such as block data, transactions, and addresses.
Transaction Indexing Tracker
Transaction indexing tools are crucial for dApp development. These tools allow for programmatic querying of data on blockchains. Having pre-built indexing solutions will streamline dApp development for project teams. They’ll be able to focus on creating their own products instead of spending time building custom indexing services.
Tokens
Prior to releasing Neon EVM to Mainnet, development of NEON Tokens must be finalized. NEON are SPL tokens that will be used as the primary payment for gas fees within Neon EVM. In addition, NEON will be used for governance.
Governance
For all decentralized platforms, governance implemented via multi-sig solutions is necessary to maintain independence from centralized control and censorship. Initially, Neon EVM will launch as a centralized service, but plans have always been to decentralize the platform. To ensure a smooth transition and to maintain transparency for the community, a decentralized governance solution is required for Mainnet launch.
Neon Grant Program
To support the early adoption of Neon EVM, the team is creating a Grant Program. The program will be critical to the growth and development of Neon EVM during the Alpha and Beta launches. The goal for the Neon Grant Program is to aid educators and builders working to expand and improve the Neon ecosystem. Some key items offered by the program include developer incentives, infrastructure support, and professional introductions.
Mainnet Roadmap: Phases Breakdown
Pre-Alpha stage
- EVM Launch: Developers are able to validate MVP functionality. (This stage is required to test the EVM smart contract with our focus group and then fix all the identified bugs and release the updated version.)
- A Solana-Neon link for transferring SPL tokens into the Neon ecosystem. (This one is required to transfer the assets to the Neon EVM and create the first Neon transactions.)
- A block explorer (Solscan): Neon devs and users need to track the transactions.
- Indexing dashboard (made by Aleph): Neon Operators are able to monitor profitability.
Mainnet Alpha (Permissioned Launch)
- Whitelisted dApps are able to deploy smart contracts in Neon EVM.
- Whitelisted dApps and users can interact with them.
- Indexing dashboard. Allows users to browse Neon EVM transactions using the Aleph dashboard.
- Solscan Integration
- Governance (council token holders) are able to mint Neon tokens and to transfer Neon tokens from the treasure pool.
Mainnet Beta
- Neon EVM opens for mass adoption.
- NFT support is enabled: Enable users to query accounts
- Neon EVM undergoes a security audit
Mainnet Gamma
- Full platform compatibility with Ethereum.
- Neon EVM adoption by Hi-Po Ethereum dApps.
FAQ
If you have any questions, check out the Neon FAQ. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, reach out to Neon Labs through Discord or any of our social media outlets linked below.
Join Our Community
Follow us on the social media and development channels below to stay informed. We’ll be hosting a community call on February 3rd, 2022 at 4pm UTC. If you have any questions that you would like to bring up to the team directly, this will be a great forum to share. In addition to our regular posts, we release bi-weekly newsletters on Medium covering our development journey and any notable announcements.
