Many developers explore options beyond the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to find platforms that offer better performance, flexibility, and control. If you want to build smart contracts that compile down to WASM, use Ink!. One of the most exciting options is Substrate, which is a powerful, modular blockchain framework created by the same team behind Polkadot.
Chains like AssetHub, Moonbeam, and Astar, are great for compiling Wasm-based smart contracts like Ink!.
Ink! is a domain-specific language for writing smart contracts in Rust, created specifically for the Substrate ecosystem. Unlike Solidity (which targets the EVM), Ink! contracts compile to WebAssembly (Wasm) and run natively on Substrate chains that support contracts. Since Substrate is written in Rust, using Ink! makes it easy to integrate smart contract logic with the rest of your chain’s runtime, while keeping everything safe, fast, and efficient.
In simple terms:
So if you’re a Rust developer exploring Web3, Substrate and ink! offer a powerful, developer-friendly ecosystem to create both blockchains and smart contracts from scratch.
This tutorial is a step-by-step guide designed to help you create, test, and deploy your first Ink! smart contract on a local Substrate node. It assumes no prior experience with Substrate or Ink!, but some familiarity with Rust will be helpful.
By the end of this guide, you’ll:
Ink! is a Rust-based embedded domain-specific language (eDSL) designed for writing smart contracts on Substrate blockchains that support the Contracts pallet.