Subnet EVM

Avalanche is a network composed of multiple blockchains. Each blockchain is an instance of a Virtual Machine (VM), much like an object in an object-oriented language is an instance of a class. That is, the VM defines the behavior of the blockchain.

Subnet EVM is the Virtual Machine (VM) that defines the Subnet Contract Chains. Subnet EVM is a simplified version of Coreth VM (C-Chain).

This chain implements the Ethereum Virtual Machine and supports Solidity smart contracts as well as most other Ethereum client functionality.

Building

The Subnet EVM runs in a separate process from the main AvalancheGo process and communicates with it over a local gRPC connection.

AvalancheGo Compatibility

[v0.7.0] AvalancheGo@v1.12.0-v1.12.1 (Protocol Version: 38)
[v0.7.1] AvalancheGo@v1.12.2 (Protocol Version: 39)
[v0.7.2] AvalancheGo@v1.12.2/1.13.0-fuji (Protocol Version: 39)

API

The Subnet EVM supports the following API namespaces:

• eth
• personal
• txpool
• debug

Only the eth namespace is enabled by default. Subnet EVM is a simplified version of Coreth VM (C-Chain). Full documentation for the C-Chain's API can be found here.

Compatibility

The Subnet EVM is compatible with almost all Ethereum tooling, including Remix, Metamask, and Foundry.

Differences Between Subnet EVM and Coreth

• Added configurable fees and gas limits in genesis
• Merged Avalanche hardforks into the single "Subnet EVM" hardfork
• Removed Atomic Txs and Shared Memory
• Removed Multicoin Contract and State

Block Format

To support these changes, there have been a number of changes to the SubnetEVM block format compared to what exists on the C-Chain and Ethereum. Here we list the changes to the block format as compared to Ethereum.

Block Header

• BaseFee: Added by EIP-1559 to represent the base fee of the block (present in Ethereum as of EIP-1559)
• BlockGasCost: surcharge for producing a block faster than the target rate

Create an EVM Subnet on a Local Network

Clone Subnet-evm

First install Go 1.23.6 or later. Follow the instructions here. You can verify by running go version.

Set $GOPATH environment variable properly for Go to look for Go Workspaces. Please read this for details. You can verify by running echo $GOPATH.

As a few software will be installed into $GOPATH/bin, please make sure that $GOPATH/bin is in your $PATH, otherwise, you may get error running the commands below.

Download the subnet-evm repository into your $GOPATH:

cd $GOPATH
mkdir -p src/github.com/ava-labs
cd src/github.com/ava-labs
git clone git@github.com:ava-labs/subnet-evm.git
cd subnet-evm

This will clone and checkout to master branch.

Run Local Network

To run a local network, it is recommended to use the avalanche-cli to set up an instance of Subnet-EVM on a local Avalanche Network.

There are two options when using the Avalanche-CLI:

1. Use an official Subnet-EVM release: https://docs.avax.network/subnets/build-first-subnet
2. Build and deploy a locally built (and optionally modified) version of Subnet-EVM: https://docs.avax.network/subnets/create-custom-subnet