EVM-Compatible
A blockchain that runs Ethereum's virtual machine, letting Ethereum apps and tools work with little or no changes.
An EVM-compatible chain implements the Ethereum Virtual Machine, so smart contracts written for Ethereum, plus wallets and developer tooling, work on it with minimal changes. Many Layer 1s and nearly all Layer 2s chose compatibility to borrow Ethereum’s ecosystem rather than build one from scratch.
Compatibility is a pragmatic growth strategy — instant access to Solidity developers, audited contract libraries, and familiar wallets. The trade-off is inheriting some of the EVM’s design constraints. Chains that chose non-EVM environments (like Solana) bet that a fresh design would outperform, at the cost of ecosystem portability. “EVM-compatible” on a chain’s marketing signals which side of that bet it took.