Arbitrum Unveils Stylus Upgrade for Faster Smart Contract Execution

Arbitrum has expanded developer access through its Stylus upgrade, which allows smart contract development in Rust, C, and C++ alongside Solidity. This technical implementation uses WebAssembly (WASM) languages, providing a faster runtime than the existing Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). According to estimates, there are 3 million Rust developers and 12 million C developers, giving Arbitrum access to a significantly larger developer base.

The upgrade targets high-compute applications such as AI, cryptography, and gaming. Stylus provides a dual execution environment for WASM and EVM, with performance gains of up to 10x for WASM contracts. The deployment of Stylus follows the launch of Arbitrum One in August 2021, which addressed scalability hurdles using optimistic rollup technology.

A single flaw in the Stylus module import validation caused a vulnerability in September 2024, allowing a faulty Stylus program to trigger a panic in the Arbitrum Nitro sequencer. The Arbitrum Foundation awarded an $80,000 bounty to the researchers who found this issue. The rollout of Stylus on Arbitrum One and Nova happens during Arbitrum Day, following the debut of Arbitrum Nitro in 2022.