Introducing the VMware Blockchain for Ethereum Beta and Developer Kit

We are excited to introduce VMware Blockchain for Ethereum, available now in beta. The beta extends VMware’s enterprise blockchain platform for businesses to easily build, efficiently operate and rapidly scale Ethereum-based blockchain networks. It also gives customers flexibility and choice by adding Ethereum support to its existing support for the Daml smart contract language. This blog will focus on the Ethereum Beta features and how to get started.

1. VMware Blockchain for Ethereum

The Ethereum ecosystem, with its smart contracts, developer tools, wallets, and overall ecosystem, is the broadest and most mature stack for building blockchain networks. Despite its breadth and maturity, there are several enterprise gaps in public and permissioned Ethereum platforms:

• Privacy
• Scalability and performance
• management system
• Supportability

VMware Blockchain (VMBC) for Ethereum will begin to address these gaps with an enterprise-grade Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible platform, built using open enterprise-centric architecture that provides a high level of decentralized trust via SBFT (Scalable Byzantine Fault Tolerant ), privacy, performance, gas-free mode and immediate transaction termination.

VMware Blockchain for Ethereum is composed of nodes running the SBFT consensus engine and the Ethereum Virtual Machine, SDKs, built-in operations, orchestration tools, and third-party integrations. Developers and architects can build or extend a network on any public or private cloud to deploy dApps and smart contracts leveraging developer tools such as Truffle, HardHat. In addition, there are integration options with MetaMask.

Figure 1: VMware brings Ethereum to the enterprise.

2. VMware Blockchain for Ethereum Developer Kit Beta

To quickly get started developing or porting your dApp on VMware Blockchain for Ethereum, we are excited to introduce the new developer kit, available to customers at no cost. To download the developer kit, please register for the beta program here.

With the VMware Blockchain for Ethereum Developer Kit, you can:

1. Deploy a single host deployment of VMware Blockchain for Ethereum locally on a laptop or any cloud.
2. Build, port and run Solidity dApps on a local VMware Blockchain Ethereum, using standard Ethereum tools including HardHat, Remix, Truffle, etc.
3. Run dApps with throttleless mode.
4. Experience fast transaction completion.
5. Use the VMware Blockchain Explorer to view blockchain and transaction data.

3. VMware Blockchain for Ethereum Beta Features

The list of features below is included in the first beta version. Over the next few months, we’ll be shipping new business features for beta users to test and provide feedback.

JSON RPC API HTTP endpoint
Applications can interact with the VMware Blockchain – read data, submit transactions – in exactly the same way as they do with other Ethereum clients, i.e. using the JSON-RPC API. In addition, VMBC supports a majority of the APIs in the Ethereum Execution API specification. For a complete list of API endpoints supported today, please register for the beta program.

Ecosystem integration
dApp developers can use wallet services and tools they are familiar with to build on the VMware Blockchain. Popular wallets like MetaMask, developer tools like HardHat, Truffle and Remix, as well as supported integration libraries like Web3j.

Gas-free mode
In the public Ethereum network, gas refers to the cost necessary to perform a transaction on the network. Miners set the price of gas based on supply and demand for the computational power of the network needed to process smart contracts and other transactions. Charging a fee for each transaction performed on the network adds a layer of security to the Ethereum network by making it too expensive for malicious users to spam the network. VMware Blockchain is a private, permissioned and managed network; therefore, it is unnecessary to charge for computing power. Additionally, the SBFT protocol it uses helps mitigate Byzantine attacks. Since gas fees are not required, VMBC supports a gas-free mode that facilitates dApp deployment.

Block Explorer
The VMBC Ethereum Block Explorer displays information about the Ethereum Blockchain. Currently available data includes transaction list explorer, transaction detail view, block list view and block detail view.

Kubernetes architecture
We updated the platform architecture so VMware Blockchain can be deployed on Kubernetes. This enables developers to quickly deploy VMware Blockchain in a single host configuration today and will allow for future cloud-agnostic, multi-cluster deployments.

Observability
JSON RPC API Metrics: To monitor request execution and system health, metrics for all JSON RPC API endpoints are available in a dashboard such as VMware Wavefront.

4. Enterprise Ethereum Use Cases

To inspire your next project, we included some key use cases that spark interest from corporate customers and partners. We can’t wait to see what you build!

Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) and Stablecoins
Enables the re-imagining of money in a digital form by leveraging scalable, interoperable, distributed blockchain infrastructure at its core and offering unique responsible privacy protocols that balance auditability and anonymity (cash-like properties). Check out Bank of Israel’s CBDC study on VMware Blockchain for Ethereum’s ability to provide anonymous transactions and responsible privacy with a technology called UTT (Untraceable Transactions).

Payments
Use blockchain, build new payment rails and assets on those rails to transform the cost and experience of current peer-to-peer, merchant and cross-border payment flows.

NFT marketplaces
Enables brands to create, promote, trade, and manage digital goods (collectibles, loyalty funds, etc.) with their customers on an enterprise blockchain network with seamless connectivity to secondary market platforms and other chains. An ERC-721 NFT platform prototype running on the VMware Blockchain was presented at a Spring One 2021 workshop.

Document verification
Enables private institutions and public organizations to digitally issue and validate the reliability and authenticity of the certificates (official records) submitted by applicants in a secure and controlled manner.

Got started

Please register for the VMware Blockchain for Ethereum beta program – register here.
If you’re interested in learning more about VMware’s vision for Ethereum in the enterprise, we recommend checking out our blog. In the meantime, you can engage with us and follow our announcements and progress on Twitter — @vmwblockchain.