With the activation of the Hydra hardfork, Conflux introduced Conflux eSpace. Conflux eSpace and a fully Ethereum-compatible environment in Conflux.
Conflux eSpace will bring to Conflux added compatibility with smart contracts, applications, and developer tools that work on EVM-based networks, such as Ethereum and Polygon. Some examples are MetaMask, HardHat, and Remix.
This also means that smart contracts will now be able to be deployed on either Core Space or eSpace (or both, in some cases).
Understanding Spaces
But what are spaces, exactly? Spaces are, simply put, smart contract execution environments. The smart contract execution environment of Conflux Core Space is the Conflux Virtual Machine (or CVM). Similarly, the smart contract execution environment of Conflux eSpace is the Ethereum Virtual Machine (or EVM).
As with any other smart contract cryptonetwork, both Core Space and eSpace require a cryptocurrency to pay for gas that transactions executed on the virtual machines need. The cryptocurrency used to pay for gas in both spaces is CFX.
To pay for gas in Core Space transactions, you’ll need a Core Space account (that is, a Conflux-formatted account that starts with cfx:...). Similarly, to pay for gas in eSpace transactions, you’ll need an eSpace account (an Ethereum-formatted account that starts with 0x).
Both accounts type of accounts are stored in the same ledger – the Conflux TreeGraph. This means that when you want to make a transaction, such as buying an NFT, trading on a DEX, or transferring funds to another account, you’ll need to pay for gas costs. These gas costs will be obtained from the account where the transaction is taking place. If a transaction is being done in Core Space, gas costs will be payed for using your Core Space account (i.e. Fluent Wallet, Portal, etc.). If a transaction is being done in eSpace, gas costs will be payed for using your eSpace account (i.e. MetaMask, or any other Ethereum-compatible wallet).
Key Idea: Spaces execute smart contracts in different machines, but share the same ledger.
Two Spaces, One CFX
You can also bridge your CFX bidirectionally between Core Space and eSpace.
Let’s say that you have 1,000 CFX in your Core Space account and you want to transfer 200 CFX to your eSpace account. You’ll first need to transfer CFX from your Core Space account to your eSpace account using the Fluent Wallet Cross-Space Bridge (to learn how to transfer CFX across spaces, you can follow this guide).
Once you transfer those funds to your eSpace account, you’ll have 800 CFX in your Core Space account and 200 CFX in your eSpace account.
So… what is the difference between Core Space CFX and eSpace CFX? In terms of value, there’s none. Core Space CFX isn’t worth more than eSpace CFX, nor the other way around. No matter which Space you access your CFX from, it’s still CFX. The only practical difference is that you cannot pay for a transaction on Core Space with your eSpace CFX and you cannot pay for a transaction in eSpace using your Core Space CFX.
A good analogy to help wrap the mind around this is the legacy financial system – the good, old fiat world. When you pay for something, you can pay using a credit card, a debit card, cash, Apple Pay, cheques, etc. Each of those forms of payment are processed in different ways (in a cash register, through a credit card terminal, through a payment processor, or by a cheque clearing mechanism). No matter which form of payment you use, you will still have to pay for it using fiat money.
In this analogy, let’s suppose that your Core Space account will be your bank account’s debit card and your eSpace account will be cash. You can “bridge” the funds that you have in your debit card into your physical wallet (the one that you wear in your purse or back pocket) by withdrawing it from an ATM. Conversely, you can “bridge” your cash from your physical wallet to your debit card account by depositing it your account at the bank.
Let’s say that that you start with $1,000 USD in your bank account (the equivalent of the 1,000 CFX in your Core Space account). You plan on using some of that money to go to a concert that takes cash only (the equivalent of using a dapp that was deployed on eSpace), so you withdraw $200 in cash from an ATM. Once you’re in the concert, you spend $100 USD, which you payed for in cash. By the end of the concert, you’ll have $900 USD in total across all your monetary medium (cash or bank account), $800 in your bank account and $100 in cash.
The next day, you plan on buy a plane ticket to Europe which costs $850 USD, so you’re $50 USD short. You then go to your bank and deposit $70 USD (just in case) of the $100 USD that you have left in cash. Now you have $870 USD in your bank account and $30 in cash. Next you buy your plane ticket with your debit card, which ended up being $830 USD. You now have a total of $70 USD across all your monetary medium, $40 in your bank account and $30 in cash.
No matter what monetary medium you use, it’s all still denominated in USD. Similarly, no matter which dapp you’re interacting with, it’s all payed for in CFX.
I hope this helps!