# Understanding the Ethereum Virtual Machine and State Transition Function

DevFeed: [Understanding the Ethereum Virtual Machine and State Transition Function](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/the-1-x-files-ghost-in-the-stack-machine-16914.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.ethereum.org/en/2020/07/28/the-1x-files-ghost-in-the-stack-machine>)

Author: Griffin Ichiba Hotchkiss

Published: 2020-07-28T00:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Ethereum Foundation Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/ethereum-foundation-blog.md>)

Topics: [Ethereum](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ethereum.md>), [Code](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/code.md>), [Transactions](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/transactions.md>), [Protocol (disambiguation)](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/protocol.md>)

Tags: [blockchain](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/blockchain.md>), [code](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/code.md>), [ethereum](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ethereum.md>), [protocol](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/protocol.md>), [research-development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/research-development.md>), [transactions](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/transactions.md>)

## AI overview

This tutorial introduces the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and explains how Ethereum uses computational work to decentralize abstract computation. It presents the Ethereum state transition function as an abstraction that maps a valid state and valid transactions to a new state.

## Source excerpt

Ethereum can be simple enough to understand from a bird's-eye view: Decentralized applications powered by the same sort of crypto-economic guarantees that underpin Bitcoin. But once you've zoomed in to, say, a street-level view, things get complicated rapidly. Even assuming one has a strong grasp on proof-of-work, it's not...