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![](\"https:\/\/images.cointelegraph.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=90,width=840\/https:\/\/s3.cointelegraph.com\/uploads\/2023-08\/1b0667cc-2db9-4fb3-845d-004b8589eee5.jpg\")
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The Stellar Development Foundation has joined the Bytecode Alliance, an industry group promoting the development of WebAssembly (Wasm), according to an Aug. 21 announcement<\/a> from the foundation’s product lead, Tomer Weller. Wasm is a competitor to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) used by the Ethereum ecosystem. It is also used in non-blockchain, browser-based applications.<\/p>\n We are officially members of @bytecodeallies<\/a>! Our goal? To shape the future and development of WebAssembly for blockchain developers. <\/p>\n Time to get to work https:\/\/t.co\/MBLkWoNlDl<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Stellar (@StellarOrg) August 21, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n EVM is a virtual machine or computation engine used to execute smart contracts. It is used by most blockchain networks, including Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Avalanche and many others. But a few networks use Wasm instead, including Polkadot, MultiversX (formerly Elrond) and Internet Computer.<\/p>\n Stellar began as a payments network in 2014. But in 2022, it implemented<\/a> smart contracts to provide more functionality to the network. In April 2022, Stellar developers chose<\/a>\u00a0Wasm as their computation engine. They argued that despite the popularity of EVM, its \u201cstorage and execution models are expensive and challenging to parallelize,\u201d which \u201cgets in the way of scalability,\u201d making transactions more expensive.<\/p>\n Related: <\/strong>Stellar dips into treasury to buy minority stake in MoneyGram<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Stellar also argued that Wasm was perfect for \u201cextremely adversarial\u201d environments like blockchains, as it was originally developed for browser applications. This was another reason the team chose Wasm over EVM.<\/p>\n But much of the development work for Wasm is produced by the Bytecode Alliance, a nonprofit organization made up of internet companies such as Amazon, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft and others. When Stellar chose Wasm as its computation engine, Internet Computer developer Dfinity was the only member of the alliance representing a blockchain network.<\/p>\n In Weller’s Aug. 21 announcement, he argued that joining the Bytecode Alliance was a \u201cno-brainer\u201d for the team, as it would allow them to \u201cinfluence standards and tooling\u201d within the Wasm development community. He emphasized that its goal was to not only represent Stellar but to \u201cadvocate for all of blockchain and its developers.\u201d According to Weller, Stellar’s participation in the organization will help the alliance support the needs of Web3 and blockchain developers:<\/p>\n \u201cThis influence ensures that the Alliance considers the unique needs of blockchain and non-web use cases, moving the Wasm ecosystem towards accommodating and supporting a broader range of applications, like […] Smart contract platforms.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Wasm community continues to make inroads into the EVM-dominated Web3 world. On April 3, the Astar network announced that it would allow both EVM and Wasm contracts<\/a> to be deployed on the same network, allowing developers to use either virtual machine. Astar labeled the event \u201cWasm launch day.\u201d On Aug. 22, Binance announced it would provide $2.2 million in funding<\/a> for a zero-knowledge proof application platform using Wasm called \u201czkWASMHub.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n