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Address Format

Address format is used to compute paths inside the trie, which makes interoperability between different EEs difficult without additional adapters, routing rules, or precompiled/runtime support.

ChainAddress FormatCurveSize
EVMkeccak256(uncompressed(G^x)[1:])[12..]secp256k1160 bits
SVMG^SHA512(x)[..32]ed25519256 bits
FVMSHA256(uncompressed(G^x))secp256k1256 bits

Table 1. Different blockchains use different address schemes and elliptic curves.

Naive address mapping is usually insufficient, because proving and security assumptions differ across curves and derivation schemes. Practical interoperability therefore needs protocol-level design (projection/routing/compatibility layers), not only client-side address translation.

Our account/state system leverages a Sparse Merkle Binary Trie (SMBT) powered by the Poseidon hashing function. This implementation utilizes 254-bit elliptic curve points to compute paths within the trie by hashing addresses with Poseidon.

Let’s examine how trie keys are calculated for Ethereum and Solana blockchains:

  • For an Ethereum address, it pads to 20 bytes with zeros to achieve a 32-byte size, then splits into two elements to calculate the binary path.
  • For a Solana address, it calculates the path using a 32-byte address, which is longer than the Ethereum’s 20-byte address.

The current function cannot handle Ethereum and Solana addresses simultaneously because they occupy different trie spaces due to Ethereum’s 20-byte padding. This issue also affects Fuel address formats and other blockchain systems, such as Polkadot, which employs the Ristretto curve. Consequently, native interoperability across these platforms is not feasible without altering blockchain address formats and cryptographic methods.

Solution

Fully Isolated EE

For Fully Isolated Execution Environments (EE), address projection (also known as account emulation) is employed. In this model, an account is stored within a special EE smart contract (or executor) responsible for managing all balance operations. This setup ensures that all balances of the isolated EE coexist in the same account space and can interact with external EEs only through specific system calls.

Partially Compatible EE

For Partially Compatible Execution Environments (EE), the same address format and derivation standards as used by Ethereum must be followed. The address derivation is as follows:

  • CREATE (contract deployment): h(address || nonce)
  • CREATE2: h(deployer, salt, init_code_hash)