According to CoinDesk, Offchain Labs, the company behind the Arbitrum blockchain, is aiming to attract more computer programmers to the crypto industry by introducing Arbitrum Stylus. Launched on Thursday, Arbitrum Stylus is a new technical implementation that enables developers to build smart contracts using programming languages compatible with the WebAssembly (WASM) industry standard format. This allows developers to program with popular coding languages such as Rust, C, and C++ alongside languages compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) standard, which is more common among crypto developers today.
WebAssembly, developed in the mid-2010s for programs in browsers like Google Chrome and Firefox, has been adopted by several blockchains, including Cosmos and Polkadot, and is sometimes seen as an alternative to the EVM. Offchain estimates that there are around 20,000 developers working in Solidity, the primary front-end programming language for Ethereum coders, but approximately 3 million coding with Rust, and 12 million writing in C and C++.
By adding these languages, Arbitrum aims to target new developers to bring their projects and build on Arbitrum's Nitro stack while maintaining compatibility with the wider Ethereum ecosystem. Rachel Bousfield, tech lead at Offchain, believes that the ability to use familiar tooling and processes will significantly reduce friction for developers outside the crypto space.
However, it will be up to the Arbitrum DAO members to vote on whether to deploy the tool to the main Arbitrum network. Offchain CEO Steven Goldfeder expects the DAO to vote on the matter by the end of the year, but the final decision will be in the hands of the community.
