Update: OpenZeppelin Support for Polkadot Hub - Refocusing on EVM-First Deliverables

Ecosystem
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In February 2025, we shared our Polkadot Treasury proposal outlining a broad collaboration with Parity to support both Polkadot Hub (EVM + Rust smart contracts) and Polkadot Cloud (runtime templates). That proposal included Solidity and Rust library compatibility, specialized primitives, CI/CD tooling, runtime maintenance, and developer activations.

Since then, Parity has refined the launch priorities:

  • Polkadot Hub will launch with dual virtual machines:

    • REVM, a Rust implementation of the Ethereum Virtual Machine, will serve as the primary environment for Solidity developers and DeFi protocols seeking to deploy directly with full EVM compatibility.

    • PolkaVM, the new register-based (RISC-V) Polkadot Virtual Machine, will also be available, featuring a compatibility layer that compiles Solidity code to PVM bytecode allowing developers to keep using Ethereum tooling, even though it’s not natively EVM.

  • The near-term focus is to ensure REVM delivers a seamless, familiar Solidity developer experience at launch, while PolkaVM matures and expands in parallel.

What We’ve Done So Far

Since the start of this collaboration, OpenZeppelin and Parity have made steady progress toward launch readiness for Polkadot Hub’s EVM environment:

  • Upgraded & Automated Templates:

    • Upgraded Generic Runtime and EVM templates to the latest stable Polkadot SDK.

    • Integrated and validated Omninode with Ankr, works without custom nodes.

  • Testing & Compatibility:

    • Built a continuous testing pipeline to validate OpenZeppelin Solidity libraries against Parity’s dev node and compiler.

    • Documented all Solidity library compatibility gaps and prioritized “works out of the box” behavior for AssetHub.

  • EVM Tooling & Contracts Wizard:

    • Finalized development for the Polkadot tab in the OpenZeppelin Contracts Wizard.

What’s Changing in the Roadmap

We are now proposing an EVM-centric roadmap for the remainder of 2025:

  1. XCM / Cross-Chain Intents

    • Develop primitives aligned with EIP-7683 to enable cross-chain messaging and intent execution from within the EVM.

    • Ensures Polkadot Hub developers can compose DeFi and Dapps flows across parachains and external L1s/L2s.

  2. Privacy & Confidential Payments

    • Deliver confidential transfers on Polkadot Hub’s EVM template using homomorphic encryption and precompiles.

    • Builds on OpenZeppelin’s prior work with privacy infrastructure and addresses key RWA and institutional requirements for tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi.

  3. Smart Accounts & Gas Sponsorship (Q4 onwards)

    • Design and implement smart-account primitives that improve UX, enable privacy-aware accounts, multisig patterns, and third-party gas sponsorship.
  • Provides a foundation for secure DAOs, institutional treasury flows, and Web2-style onboarding experiences.

What’s Deferred

  • PolkaVM integration: Still in scope, but deferred until PolkaVM is stable. Our design and scaffolding work now will ensure these features can be ported with minimal delay once ready.

  • AI/ML primitives: Postponed until after EVM priorities and privacy workstreams are complete.

Why This Matters

  • Aligns with Parity’s internal roadmap: EVM-first delivery meets the immediate needs for Hub’s launch and ecosystem adoption.

  • Supports DeFi growth on Polkadot Hub: Confidential payments, RWA standards, and cross-chain interoperability are critical for liquidity and institutional participation.

  • Builds for the future: All workstreams are designed with forward compatibility so PolkaVM can later inherit the same primitives.

We remain committed to the spirit of the original proposal, developer enablement, library support, and ecosystem growth, while streamlining delivery to match Polkadot’s updated priorities.

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Thanks heaps for this update! :slight_smile: