Sei Network Interoperability Framework

Understand how Sei enables seamless interaction between EVM and Cosmos ecosystems through its dual address system, precompiles, and pointer contracts.

CosmWasm deployments are frozen. Per Proposal 115, no new CosmWasm contracts can be uploaded or instantiated on Sei. The interoperability features described on this page apply to already-deployed CosmWasm contracts, native Bank Module assets, and Cosmos-SDK modules accessed via precompiles. For new smart contract development, build directly on the EVM. See SIP-3 for the full migration context.

Dual Address Support

Sei utilizes two distinct address types:

• EVM (0x) address: Ethereum-style addresses, with “0x” prefix.
• Cosmos address: Bech-32 addresses, with “sei1” prefix.

Both addresses are derived from the same public key, ensuring seamless asset integration across formats. You can find your corresponding wallet addresses directly in the Sei Dashboard.

For more details on interoperability, explore our article here.

Virtual Machine Interoperability

EVM and existing CosmWasm-based smart contracts co-exist on Sei, but live in different execution environments. This creates a challenge for users, who use wallets that typically only support a single execution environment. Likewise for developers, existing tooling and libraries can only interact with either EVM or Wasm (Think EthersJS vs CosmJS).

To bridge the gap between EVM and Wasm, Sei has introduced two interoperability features, allowing for smooth and easy interactions between both environments. Precompiled EVM contracts and Pointer Contracts enable existing CosmWasm contracts and Cosmos-SDK modules to be accessible from the EVM. New smart contracts on Sei should be deployed on the EVM directly.

Precompile Contracts

Sei precompiles are smart contracts embedded directly within the Sei EVM environment. They provide a gateway for users and developers to access Cosmos-SDK functions through the EVM RPC interface.

For instructions on utilizing EVM precompiles, refer to the Example Usage section.

Pointer Contracts

Pointer Contracts are a unique feature introduced on Sei, designed to enhance interoperability between EVM and Cosmos environments. These contracts serve as a proxy, or interface for either token standard, making them compatible with both EVM and Cosmos-SDK clients.

Pointer contracts can be deployed for any Smart Contract (ERC20, ERC721, etc.) and for already-deployed CosmWasm contracts (CW20, CW721, CW1155). Note that Prop 115 disables new CosmWasm deployments, so pointer creation on the CW side is now mainly a tool for surfacing legacy assets on the EVM.

Example Diagram

Enabling seamless access to all tokens and contracts on Sei