Astar Network Launches WASM-Driven Smart Contract Platform

Summary:
• Astar Network has launched Swanky, a platform with two toolkits that enhance developers’ efficiency in handling smart contracts.

Smart Contract platform Astar Network has launched Swanky, an end-to-end tool for developing WebAssembly (WASM) smart contracts. To aid developers in creating the next generation of smart contracts, Swanky integrates multiple components of the WASM ecosystem into a unified front end.

The new development toolkit will make it easier for developers to create, compile, deploy, and test WASM smart contracts. Given this, the number of people working on smart contracts using WASM will likely grow, speeding up development across the whole Web3 ecosystem.

Swanky’s toolkit and Astar Network’s approach to smart contracts

Since WASM is more like machine language, it improves efficiency. Furthermore, major players in the tech industry, like Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla, have already pledged their support for its future growth. In addition, it’s compatible with widely-used languages among Web2 programmers like C/C++, GO, TypeScript, and RUST.

Two components are in Swanky’s toolkit. Swanky CLI is a tool used to create and compile smart contracts, set up and run integration tests, and manage user accounts. It provides developers with a growing library of project templates, many of which already include smart contracts and front-end dApp code. Instead of spending time configuring the environment and developing smart contracts from scratch, developers can get right to work on constructing and releasing their products using this handy tool.

Swanky Node is the second component of the Swanky package. This function is a basic blockchain running on Substrate. It allows for pallet-contracts and instant-seal so that local development doesn’t have to wait for block time optimization. It is very configurable, running in different states, accessing Substrate-based dApp development pallets, and more.

One of the most important aspects of a future Layer-1 blockchain is the ability to run two virtual machines in tandem and for them to interact with one another. With the market shifting from EVM to WASM, Astar Network believes there’s room to experiment with and develop new interoperable dApps. With that said, WASM developer activity needs a boost in the form of tooling and documentation because smart contract usage and development on this platform are still in their infancy.