About Mastering EVM

A comprehensive guide to the Ethereum Virtual Machine ecosystem, covering both Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC).

A Living Book

The blockchain space moves at lightning speed. The original Mastering Ethereum was written with content reflecting February 2017—a lifetime ago in this industry. Since then, we've seen The Merge, Layer 2 scaling solutions, the DeFi explosion, and countless protocol upgrades.

Mastering EVM is designed as a living document that evolves with the ecosystem. We continuously update content to reflect the current state of EVM development, ensuring you're learning modern practices, not historical artifacts.

Why This Book?

The EVM powers one of the most significant technological revolutions of our time. Yet comprehensive, up-to-date educational resources remain scarce. We wrote the book we wished existed when we started our blockchain journey.

This isn't just another "intro to Ethereum" guide. We go deep. You'll understand not just how to write smart contracts, but why they work the way they do.

The Dual-Chain Perspective

A unique aspect of this book is our coverage of both:

  • Ethereum (ETH) — The original smart contract platform, now running proof-of-stake after The Merge
  • Ethereum Classic (ETC) — The continuation of proof-of-work Ethereum, preserving immutability

These two chains share the same origin but have diverged philosophically and technically. Understanding both gives you a complete picture of the EVM ecosystem.

Author

Mastering EVM is written by Cipher Null.

Attribution

This work is a derivative of Mastering Ethereum by Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Gavin Wood, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Mastering EVM has been substantially rewritten, reorganized, and updated for 2025. While we build upon the foundational concepts of the original work, all content has been reformulated with:

  • New examples using modern tooling (Foundry, Hardhat, ethers.js v6)
  • Dual-chain (Ethereum + Ethereum Classic) coverage
  • Updated content reflecting post-Merge reality
  • New chapters on DeFi, L2 scaling, and zero-knowledge proofs
  • A different structure and voice

License

This derivative work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

You are free to:

  • Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
  • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially

Under the following terms:

  • Attribution — Give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made
  • ShareAlike — Distribute contributions under the same license

Contributing

Found an error? Have a suggestion? We welcome contributions via our GitHub repositories.

  • Content issues — Report or fix errors in the book content
  • Website issues — Report or fix bugs in the website
  • Discussions — Join the community conversation

Support

This book is free and always will be. If you find it valuable, consider:

  • Starring our GitHub repositories
  • Sharing with fellow developers
  • Contributing improvements via pull requests
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