01Obsidian

EthereumAlternative

EVM and native messaging

Everything you love about Ethereum, plus a native messaging layer. Full EVM compatibility, same tooling, same developer experience. With zero-gas data storage built in.

Start building→How it works→

02Section 02

The ethereumGap

Ethereum revolutionized trustless value transfer and programmable money. It was not designed for communication and data storage.

What Ethereum does well

Trustless value transfer.
Smart contract execution.
DeFi and programmable money.
Token standards (ERC-20, ERC-721).
Decentralized applications.

The data storage problem

Gas costs make data storage prohibitively expensive.
State bloat concerns limit what can be stored.
Smart contracts add complexity for simple data.
No dedicated messaging protocol. Everything goes through EVM.
Calldata is expensive for large payloads.

What if you just want to publish a message with finalized ordering and archive-backed retrieval, without deploying a contract or paying per-byte gas fees?

03Section 03

ObsidianExtends ethereum

Obsidian is not replacing Ethereum. It is extending it for the data-first future. A dedicated messaging layer that operates alongside the traditional transaction system.

Layer	Ethereum	Obsidian
Transactions	Yes	Yes
Smart contracts	Yes	Yes
State changes	Yes	Yes
ERC-20 / ERC-721	Yes	Yes
Native messages	No	Yes (archive-backed, no EVM)

Silica protocol.

Messages publish through the native data layer of Obsidian so they do not compete with DeFi for block space.

No EVM execution.

Messages bypass the EVM entirely, reducing overhead. No gas computation, no state machine execution.

Feeless standard lane.

Basic messages cost nothing. Just compute a small VDF proof. Priority lane available when fast inclusion matters (paid in OBS).

Archive-backed storage.

Data availability is verified by consensus, with validators retaining erasure-coded chunks during the serve window and archive nodes preserving long-term history.

04Section 04

Full evmCompatibility

Your Ethereum skills transfer directly. Same tooling, same languages, same developer experience, plus new capabilities.

MetaMask

ethers.js

web3.js

viem

Hardhat

Foundry

Remix

Solidity

Wagmi

Rainbow

The Graph

Any EVM Wallet

Deploy contracts (same as Ethereum)

// Your existing Solidity works
contract MyToken is ERC20 {
  constructor() ERC20("My Token", "MTK") {
    _mint(msg.sender, 1000000 * 10**18);
  }
}

// Deploy with Hardhat
npx hardhat deploy --network obsidian

Send messages (new capability)

// No contract needed
await provider.send(
  "eth_sendMessageBlob",
  [{
    from: myAddress,
    data: "0x" + toHex("Hello!"),
    signature: sig,
    nonce: nonceHex,
    chainId: "0x1a5"
  }]
);
// Zero gas, archive-backed retrieval

05Section 05

FeatureComparison

Feature	Ethereum	Obsidian
Smart contracts	Full EVM	Full EVM
Transaction fees	Gas (variable)	Gas (variable)
Data storage cost	$0.50 to 5.00 / KB	Feeless (SM)
Max data per TX	128 KB calldata	8 KB / msg, 100 MB / slot
Native messages	No	Yes
Contract required for data	Yes	No
Data permanence	Calldata (prunable)	Native (archive-backed)
Silica protocol	No	Yes

06Section 06

When to useEach

Use smart contracts

When you need logic.

Token transfers and DeFi.
Complex business logic.
State machines and workflows.
Multi-party coordination.
Conditional execution.

Use native messages

When you need data.

Social content and posts.
Attestations and proofs.
Public records and logs.
Simple store and retrieve.
High-volume data ingestion.

Obsidian gives you both options. Use the right tool for the job.

Extend your ethereum skills.

Same tools, same language, new capabilities.

Get started→Learn messaging→