x86 Virtual Machine (Qtum)

The x86 Virtual Machine is a smart contract execution environment that the Qtum project announced around 2018 and worked on as an alternative to the Ethereum Virtual Machine. Qtum is a blockchain that combines Bitcoin's UTXO accounting with EVM-compatible smart contracts. The x86 design aimed to let developers write contracts in widely used languages such as C, C++ and Rust and compile them to the x86 instruction set found in most desktop and server computers, so that existing tools and libraries could be reused. Supporters argued this would widen the pool of developers beyond those who learn Solidity. How far the design progressed and whether it was deployed on Qtum's main network is not well documented, so the project's own materials should be checked. Also see the Qtum ARM virtual machine.