IOHK is pleased to announce the release of the KEVM testnet. This is the first smart contracts testnet for Cardano. Smart contracts must be formally verified, so they run exactly as specified and are free from bugs or flaws. Only then can they be widely adopted as financial infrastructure that can be relied upon by billions of people.

The KEVM is a correct by construction version of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) specified in the K framework. This technology, produced by Runtime Verification with the support of IOHK, is the first time that a complete formal semantics of the EVM have been produced. This is an important first in cryptocurrency that is a necessary step towards the promise of third-generation blockchains.

Developers will be able to take any application that runs on the EVM and execute it on the KEVM, which can also be used to rigorously prove that smart contracts work correctly. This is done by formally specifying a contract’s desired properties in K, combining the contract with the KEVM specification, and then using the K framework to verify those properties.

Read the full statement and watch our video introducing the Cardano testnets.

Team IOHK