Crypto Coding Tool Solar Slashes Ethereum Contract Build Times

Solar, a crypto software startup, says its new EVM Codegen can turn Ethereum app code into network-ready instructions more than 100x faster, helping builders ship faster and cut user fees.

Key Takeaways

• gakonst said Solar will release an EVM Codegen system this week claiming it is more than 100x faster than solc and more gas efficient
• The release targets the Ethereum Virtual Machine, which runs smart contracts on Ethereum and many compatible networks
• Solc is the reference Solidity compiler and sits in the middle of most contract development pipelines
• Developers will want benchmark suites, supported Solidity versions and evidence that the codegen preserves compatibility, readability and correctness

The developer posted the claim on X on Sunday. The release targets the Ethereum Virtual Machine, or EVM, the software environment that runs smart contracts across Ethereum (ETH) and many compatible networks.

The benchmark matters because solc, the reference Solidity compiler, sits in the middle of most contract development pipelines.

Solidity turns human-readable contract code into bytecode, the low-level instructions executed by the EVM.

EVM Codegen Enters A Speed Fight

A 100x speed claim is large enough to matter even before independent testing. Compilation time shapes local development, continuous integration runs and audit workflows, especially for teams compiling large dependency trees over and over.

Gas efficiency matters just as much.

If EVM Codegen can emit tighter bytecode, the payoff is not only faster builds. It can also reduce the amount of computation users pay for when contracts deploy or execute onchain.

That is why compiler work can change economics without changing a chain itself.

A protocol upgrade needs validators and governance. Better EVM Codegen can improve developer output with no network vote at all.

From Solidity Dominance To Toolchain Competition

Solc became the default because the Solidity team maintained the language and compiler together.

That gave developers one trusted path from source code to deployable contracts.

Over time, that default created a bottleneck. Teams building rollups, MEV systems and smart contract apps wanted faster iteration, more predictable optimization and easier ways to inspect generated bytecode.

The result has been quiet competition around the toolchain rather than the chain.

Foundry sped up testing. Alternative virtual machines tried new execution models.

Now EVM Codegen is becoming its own battleground, because every minute shaved from compile time compounds across many deployments.

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What Faster EVM Codegen Actually Changes

EVM Codegen is the stage where a compiler decides how high-level Solidity instructions become low-level EVM operations. A weak code generator may produce redundant steps.

A stronger one can arrange operations with fewer instructions.

That changes two things. Developers wait less during builds, and users may pay less gas if the final bytecode is smaller or cleaner.

Independent verification will decide whether Solar’s numbers hold.

Fast compilers sometimes trade away compatibility, audit readability or edge-case correctness. In smart contracts, a tiny miscompile can lock funds or break upgrade logic.

That is why the real test is not the X claim alone.

It is whether teams can reproduce the speedup on standard codebases and whether auditors trust the output.

What To Watch Before The Release Lands

The next checkpoint is the release itself. Developers will want benchmark suites, supported Solidity versions and evidence that zero assembly output does not hide performance tradeoffs elsewhere.

If Solar’s EVM Codegen works as advertised, the impact may show up first in developer tooling, not token prices.

Faster contract builds reduce friction for test-heavy teams, and lower gas bytecode can cut costs for protocols that redeploy often.

For crypto infrastructure, that is real leverage on the stack’s cost base. The compiler is not glamorous, but it sits between every contract idea and the chain that executes it.

How EVM Codegen Saves Time And Gas

EVM Codegen is the part of the compiler that decides which machine instructions a Solidity statement becomes.

In plain terms, a developer writes a function like transfer or swap, and the code generator maps that function into many tiny EVM steps.

If Solar’s EVM Codegen is really 100x faster than solc, the first gain shows up during development. Test suites and audits require repeated compilations.

A team shipping contracts across Ethereum (ETH), Base or Arbitrum (Arbitrum (ARB)) can run those loops hundreds of times.

The second gain is onchain. More gas efficient bytecode means fewer operations for validators to process, so users pay less for deployment or execution.

That is why compiler competition matters. A better EVM Codegen path can lower costs without waiting for any chain upgrade.

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