Starcoin Advances in Dual-VM and Modularity

Starcoin
3 min readMar 28, 2025

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The team has recently achieved significant milestones in dual-VM architecture and the modular design of virtual machines (VM). These achievements not only demonstrate the team’s ongoing commitment to blockchain innovation but also establish a robust foundation for performance optimization, system upgrades, and ecosystem growth. This article will explore these technical advancements in detail and highlight their significance for the Starcoin project.

Dual-VM Architecture: Ensuring Compatibility and Smooth Transition Between Versions

Dual-VM architecture is a critical innovation currently pursued by the Starcoin team. Its objective is to create a compatible environment for MOVE 2.0 and MOVE 1.0 at execution and storage layers by integrating the Move 2.0 VM into the existing Move 1.0 environment. This approach allows parallel operation of both VM versions, giving developers space for gradual adaptation while maintaining stability for existing applications and smart contracts.

Technical Progress:

Dependency Management Optimization: The team has successfully streamlined dependencies for the Move 2.0 runtime and compiled it within the Move 1.0 environment, initially resolving dependency conflicts.

Module Decoupling: To enhance system independence, the team plans to move parts of the starcoin-config code down to individual functional modules, reducing unnecessary coupling.

External Dependency Fixes: Compatibility issues with external libraries (e.g., x25519-dalek/merlin) have been resolved, ensuring stable operation of the dual-VM architecture.

Practical Significance:

Seamless Upgrade Experience: Dual-VM architecture allows simultaneous operation of old and new smart contract versions, enabling developers to migrate at their own pace without disrupting the user experience.

Ecosystem-Friendly Approach: Introducing new features without disturbing existing applications provides technical support for attracting more developers to Starcoin’s ecosystem.

VM Modularity: Enhancing Flexibility and Maintainability

In parallel with the dual-VM architecture, Starcoin’s VM modularization initiative aims to divide the virtual machine into smaller, independent components, significantly improving maintainability and extensibility.

Technical Progress:

Versioned Type Management: The team plans to maintain independent type definitions for Move 1.0 and Move 2.0, addressing differences within starcoin-types to ensure compatibility.

Independent Utility Libraries: Components within the commons utility library (such as accumulator and metrics) currently facing conflicts are planned to be isolated and consolidated into a universal, standalone utility library.

Dependency Streamlining: Efforts are underway to reduce Move 2.0 VM’s dependencies on commons and starcoin-types, increasing the independence of the virtual machine.

Practical Significance:

Efficient Maintenance: Modular design greatly reduces system complexity, making updates and maintenance more efficient and reducing technical debt.

Flexible Expansion: A modular VM provides a solid foundation for supporting new features or languages in the future, driving further technological innovation at Starcoin.

Long-term Impact on the Starcoin Project

The advancements in dual-VM architecture and VM modularity represent more than just technical progress; they bring significant practical value to Starcoin:

Balancing Performance and Compatibility: Dual-VM architecture enhances system performance while ensuring compatibility for legacy and new applications, reducing upgrade risks.

Technical Foundation for Ecosystem Growth: Modular design provides greater flexibility for Starcoin’s long-term development, helping attract more developers and partners.

Market Confidence Boost: Professional technical implementations showcase the team’s expertise and dedication, enhancing community and market trust.

Future Outlook

The team will continue to refine the dual-VM architecture, integrating additional Move 2.0 features to support diverse application scenarios. Simultaneously, optimization efforts for VM modularity will persist, focusing on further dependency reduction to ensure a lightweight, independent virtual machine. These efforts will provide robust technical support for Starcoin’s performance enhancement and ecosystem expansion.

Every step forward for Starcoin depends on community support and participation. The team eagerly anticipates collaboration with community members and welcomes valuable feedback and suggestions.

Through these technological advancements, Starcoin is taking solid steps in blockchain VM technology, laying a strong foundation for future ecosystem prosperity and market competitiveness.

About Starcoin

Starcoin provides the utmost security from the origin via its enhanced PoW consensus and Secure smart contract, using the language of Move. Through layered and flexible interoperability, it optimizes the building of ecosystems such as DeFi, NFTs, Gaming, etc., with higher efficiency and convenience. This process redefines value by empowering every participant in the ecosystem to enjoy the multiplication of values.

Follow Starcoin on social media to stay up to date with all the latest developments.

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Starcoin
Starcoin

Written by Starcoin

Starcoin is a proof-of-work blockchain that enables secure smart contracts based on Move to power services in Web 3.0

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