Arbitrum Stylus represents a paradigm shift in smart contract development by enabling WebAssembly (WASM) based contracts alongside traditional EVM. This dual-VM architecture enables developers to write contracts in performance-oriented languages, such as Rust, C++, and C, while maintaining full interoperability with existing Solidity contracts.
Why WASM Changes Everything
The introduction of WASM to blockchain isn’t just an incremental improvement—it’s a fundamental leap in computational efficiency and developer experience. While EVM served us well, its design constraints are increasingly apparent in data-intensive applications.
Core Advantages of WASM over EVM:
- Computational Performance – 10-100x faster execution for complex operations*
- Memory Efficiency – Direct memory access and optimized data structures
- Gas Optimization – Dramatically reduced costs for compute-heavy tasks
- Language Ecosystem – Access to mature toolchains and extensive libraries
- Compile-time Guarantees – Type safety and memory safety at compilation
- Native Performance – Near-metal execution speeds for critical paths
* In micro-benchmarks such as cryptographic hashing or big integer arithmetic
RedStone SDK: Leveraging WASM for Oracle Excellence
RedStone’s SDK implementation on Stylus demonstrates real-world advantages of WASM for oracle infrastructure, particularly in data verification, aggregation, and on-chain processing scenarios.
EVM’s Computational Constraints (that Stylus/WASM overcomes)
1. Stack-Based Architecture Limitations
- EVM uses a stack machine with only 1024 depth limit
- All operations go through the stack (no registers)
- Cannot directly access memory without stack operations
- Result: Multiple operations needed for simple tasks
2. 256-bit Word Size Overhead
- EVM forces everything into 256-bit words
- Simple 8-bit or 32-bit operations still consume full 256-bit processing
- Inefficient for typical data types (addresses are 160-bit, many values are much smaller)
- WASM uses native 32/64-bit operations, matching actual hardware
3. Limited Opcode Set
- No native support for common operations (bit shifts were added late)
- No SIMD instructions
- Complex operations must be built from primitives
- Example: No native floating-point math
4. Expensive Memory Access Patterns
- Memory expansion costs grow quadratically
- No memory pointers or references
- Cannot efficiently implement complex data structures
- Arrays and structs require expensive storage patterns
5. Interpreted Bytecode vs Compiled
- EVM bytecode is interpreted at runtime
- WASM is compiled to near-native machine code
- No JIT optimization opportunities in EVM
- Every operation has fixed gas cost regardless of context
6. No Direct Hardware Access
- Cannot leverage CPU-specific optimizations
- No access to hardware acceleration
- Cryptographic operations artificially expensive (except precompiles)
Real Impact for RedStone:
- Data parsing: WASM can process bytes directly, EVM must convert everything to 256-bit words
- Signature verification: More efficient memory access for batch verification
- Aggregation logic: Native loops and conditionals vs expensive EVM jumps
These aren’t design flaws—EVM prioritized determinism and simplicity. But for data-intensive operations like oracles, these constraints significantly impact performance.
RedStone’s RUST-SDK: Production-Proven Architecture on Stylus
Open-Closed Principle in Action
RedStone’s RUST-SDK exemplifies sophisticated software architecture by implementing the open-closed principle at the blockchain infrastructure level. This approach brings enterprise-grade reliability to cross-chain oracle implementations.
Core Architecture Benefits:
1. Immutable Audited Core
- The foundation remains unchanged across all deployments
- Battle-tested on Solana, Radix, and other high-performance chains
- Single audit covers multiple chain implementations
- Reduces security surface area and audit costs
2. Network-Specific Extensions
- Each blockchain receives tailored optimizations without modifying core logic
- Injected components include:
- Native cryptographic libraries optimized for each chain’s requirements
- Network-specific SDK integrations for optimal performance
- Custom serialization/deserialization matching chain’s data formats
3. Production Track Record
- Solana: Handling thousands of price updates with sub-second latency
- Radix: Leveraging Scrypto’s unique capabilities
- Stylus: Now bringing the same proven architecture to Arbitrum’s WASM environment
Stylus-Specific Optimizations:
With Arbitrum Stylus, RedStone can inject:
- WASM-optimized cryptographic primitives
- Direct memory manipulation for ultra-fast data processing
- Native Arbitrum precompiles access
- Efficient cross-contract communication with both WASM and EVM contracts
This architecture means that teams using RedStone on Stylus benefit from code that’s already securing billions in TVL on other chains, while getting performance optimizations specific to Arbitrum’s infrastructure.
RedStone Security Architecture & Example Gas Benchmarks
On-Chain Verification: The Security Foundation
RedStone’s security model is built on on-chain data verification, ensuring trustless operation across all supported chains. Since RedStone operates across multiple blockchains with EVM as the original target, the verification system is standardized around:
- ECDSA cryptography with the secp256k1 curve
- ecrecover function for signature verification
- Universal compatibility across EVM and non-EVM chains
Stylus Implementation Details
On Arbitrum Stylus, signature verification leverages the official SDK: openzeppelin_stylus::utils::cryptography::ecdsa
Important: The cryptographic verification cost remains constant at ~3k gas per feed per signer – identical to EVM. This is a fixed infrastructure cost that cannot be optimized away.
Performance Comparison: EVM vs Stylus
Despite over 2 years of engineering optimization on the EVM RedStone Adapter, achieving peak efficiency at multiple levels, the new Stylus architecture demonstrates significant gas savings in benchmarks.
Gas Consumption Benchmarks (3 Signers)
| Implementation | 2 Feeds | 4 Feeds | 8 Feeds | N feeds (estimated) |
| EVM (Solidity) | 103k | 166k | 297k | ~39k + N * 32k |
| Stylus | 75k | 123k | 218k | ~27k + N * 24k |
| Gas Savings | ~26% | |||
Note on Cost Structure: Several costs remain identical between EVM and Stylus implementations:
- Cryptographic operations
- L1 calldata posting costs
- Basic storage operations
Additional Considerations:
- Benchmarks performed under controlled lab conditions
- Real production environment may yield different results
- L1 posting costs can dominate for small transactions
- Under high L2 load, differences may diminish
Estimated Computation Gas Cost Breakdown
Storage Cost on Arbitrum
- Update: 1 slot (256-bit) per feed for price data
- Storage operations: up to 2,9k gas per update
(estimated; for some warm reads and writes on Stylus under controlled test conditions) - Cost: N × 2,9k gas (same for EVM and Stylus)
Updated Component Breakdown
Fixed costs (identical for both):
- Calldata: 4k + (N × 4,1k) gas (estimated average*)
- Ecrecover: N × 9k gas
- Storage: N × 2,9k gas
- Total fixed: 4k + (N × 16k) gas
* These are very rough estimates. Actual costs depend on calldata structure and transmission method, which is currently heavily optimized for EVM calls.
Recalculated Pure Computation Costs
For EVM: Total 39k + (N × 32k)
- Minus fixed costs: 4k + (N × 16k)
- Pure computation: 35k + (N × 16k)
For Stylus: Total 27k + (N × 24k)
- Minus fixed costs: 4k + (N × 16k)
- Pure computation: 23k + (N × 8k)
The Computational Efficiency Gap Widens!
| Metric | EVM | Stylus | Improvement |
| Base computational overhead | 35k | 23k | 34.3% reduction |
| Per-feed computation | 16k | 8k | 50,0% reduction |
Example with 2 feeds:
- Fixed costs (both): 36k gas (calldata + ecrecover + storage)
- EVM computation: 67k gas
- Stylus computation: 39k gas
- Pure computational savings: 28k gas (41.8%)
Example with 8 feeds:
- Fixed costs (both): 132k gas (calldata + ecrecover + storage)
- EVM computation: 161k gas
- Stylus computation: 87k gas
- Pure computational savings: 74k gas (46.0%)
Key Insight:
With storage included, fixed unoptimizable costs represent ~132k gas, yet Stylus still achieves 26% total savings by cutting computational costs nearly in half. This demonstrates the massive efficiency gain of WASM execution.
Key Observations:
- Stylus advantage grows with complexity – The more feeds processed, the greater the relative savings
- Fixed costs are already included – The benchmarks show total gas consumption including cryptographic verification
- Optimization beyond cryptography – The savings come from more efficient data processing, memory management, and contract execution
- Scalability benefits – As data volume increases, the percentage savings become even more significant
Ongoing Optimization Efforts
The RedStone team continues optimization on two fronts:
- Rust-SDK core improvements – Benefits all platforms (Solana, Radix, Stylus)
- Stylus-specific optimizations – Leveraging unique WASM capabilities and Arbitrum precompiles
Important Note on Stylus vs EVM Benchmarks:
These results represent example benchmarks for a specific use case (3 signature operations). Actual gas savings may vary significantly depending on several factors:
Factors Affecting Final Costs:
1. L1 (Ethereum) Specifics:
- Current gas price on Ethereum
- L1 network congestion level
- Batch size of transactions posted to L1
- Calldata compression efficiency
2. L2 (Arbitrum) Specifics:
- Arbitrum network load
- Current ArbGas multiplier
- Arbitrum Nitro version and its optimizations
- Transaction size and operation types
3. Application Characteristics:
- Ratio of computational to storage operations
- Amount and type of cryptographic operations
- Business logic complexity
- Frequency of inter-contract calls
Summary: RedStone on Arbitrum Stylus – The Future of Oracle Infrastructure
What RedStone Brings to Stylus
RedStone’s deployment on Arbitrum Stylus represents a next-generation oracle solution that combines:
- Battle-tested reliability – Production code from Solana and Radix, now on Arbitrum
- Superior performance – 30%+ gas savings even against heavily optimized EVM code
- Cross-VM interoperability – Seamless data provision to both WASM and EVM contracts
- Future-proof architecture – Open-closed principle ensures easy upgrades without re-audits. In micro-benchmarks such as cryptographic hashing or big integer arithmetic, WASM can achieve 10–100x faster execution. In gas-cost benchmarks for oracle workloads, we observe ~26–50% savings compared to EVM
Key Benefits for Developers
Immediate Advantages:
- Lower operational costs – Reduced gas consumption for data-intensive applications
- Higher update frequency – Cost savings enable more frequent price updates
- Proven security – Audited core with billions in secured TVL across chains
- Native Rust development – Build complex logic with type safety and memory safety
Strategic Advantages:
- Unified codebase – Same SDK works across Solana, Radix, and Stylus
- No vendor lock-in – Data verification happens on-chain, maintaining decentralization
- Ecosystem maturity – Access to Rust’s extensive cryptographic and data processing no-std compatible libraries
Use Cases Unlocked
With RedStone on Stylus, developers can now build:
- High-frequency trading protocols with sub-second price updates
- Complex derivatives requiring intensive computational verification
- Cross-chain applications leveraging consistent oracle infrastructure
- Data-rich DeFi products previously constrained by gas costs
The Competitive Edge
While maintaining identical security guarantees (on-chain verification, ECDSA signatures), RedStone on Stylus delivers:
- Faster execution for complex operations
- Significantly lower costs for end users
- Developer flexibility with modern programming languages
- Seamless integration with existing Arbitrum ecosystem
Looking Forward
As the RedStone team continues optimizing both the core Rust-SDK and Stylus-specific implementations, we can expect:
- Further gas reductions through WASM-specific optimizations
- Continuous adaptation to Stylus platform improvements and new optimizations from the Arbitrum team
- Expanded computational capabilities for more complex on-chain data processing and aggregation
- Growing ecosystem of Stylus-native DeFi protocols powered by RedStone
Bottom Line: RedStone on Stylus isn’t just a port – it’s a reimagining of what oracle infrastructure can achieve when freed from EVM’s computational constraints, enabling lower costs and broader use cases.
