Vyper, Solidity's little brother

The Vyper programming language for writing smart contracts on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) recently celebrated its anniversary. Among the chatter out of Devcon was that the team developing Vyper is underfunded.

Conceived by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in November 2016, Vyper set out to provide a simpler, more secure alternative to Solidity.

Its clean, Python-inspired syntax prioritizes readability and restricts complex features to minimize vulnerabilities — a boon for developers focused on writing secure and robust smart contracts.

Curve Finance was a high profile user of the language, and founder Michael Egorov took to his Telegram channel over the weekend to reminisce.

"I started using Vyper in 2019 when I started creating Curve. Just like in 2005 I fell in love with Python, same happened with Vyper," Egorov wrote, noting that it is "probably the best way to write safe smart contracts for [the] Ethereum ecosystem."

Security has always been a cornerstone of Vyper's philosophy, but a 2023 high-profile exploit in the Vyper compiler caused a lot of damage to Curve.

Today, Egorov noted, Vyper boasts a well-documented history of audits, with all reports available publicly on its GitHub repository. Vyper developers have also implemented processes for managing vulnerabilities, as highlighted in its security advisories.

The emphasis on transparency and public reviews aligns with Ethereum's broader ethos of decentralization and community trust.

Vyper and Solidity differ significantly in design philosophy and features. In contrast, Solidity's JavaScript-like syntax is more complex but allows for greater flexibility, catering to developers with experience in traditional programming languages.

Solidity benefits from a mature and extensive ecosystem, with a wide range of tools, libraries and community support, making it the standard for most Ethereum projects.

Admittedly, Vyper is less popular than Solidity today, but history offers an interesting parallel, according to Egorov: In 2005, Python was itself a niche language overshadowed by PHP and Java. Over time, Python's clarity and versatility propelled it to dominate industries like AI and data science. Similarly, Vyper's focus on security and readability could spark a renaissance as a future-proof language for the next wave of dapps.

There are a ton of Python developers in the world, a fact that Algorand is banking on to bring in a fresh class of developers following the adoption earlier this year of Python as its canonical language.

For Ethereum devs, Vyper caters to a niche audience that values security and simplicity over feature richness. For projects requiring concise, secure smart contracts, Vyper remains an excellent choice.

— Macauley Peterson (X: @yeluacaM | Farcaster: @Macauley)

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DeFi TVL dominance by smart contract language:

Source: DeFiLlama

Vyper's influence in the Ethereum ecosystem has seen a steady decline over the past few years. Once commanding a notable share of the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi, Vyper peaked at 30% in August 2020.

Its share has steadily eroded, falling to 13.8% by early 2022, 7.6% by the start of 2023, and just 2.2% at the beginning of 2024. As of November 2024, Vyper accounts for only 1% of DeFi TVL.

This decline suggests that while Vyper's security-first approach and Python-inspired simplicity appealed to developers early on, the language has struggled to maintain momentum against Solidity's dominance.

AI-powered gaming

DecartAI's new Oasis model enables a fully AI-generated and real-time playable game within the Minecraft universe, showcasing the transformative potential of generative AI in gaming. By cutting development costs and time for expansive open-world games, tools like LLMs and AI agents could revolutionize NPC behavior and interactivity.

In crypto, platforms such as Truth Terminal, Virtuals.io and Parallel Colony are integrating AI agents into blockchain-based gaming, enabling unique gameplay designs. Oasis diverges from traditional game engines like Unity by generating in-game interactions frame-by-frame, creating entirely novel experiences.

This evolution, paired with onchain economies and composability, opens the door for dynamic, player-driven worlds like EVE Frontier. With advancements like Magicblock's ephemeral rollups that reduce latency, fully onchain games are increasingly feasible. Web3 games are positioned to leverage AI's growing capabilities, promising innovative gameplay and design.

Explore more insights in Blockworks Research's flashnote by Danny K.

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