Overview

Throughout this documentation, you’ll notice consistent references to:
  • Binary name: evmd
  • Token denominations: test (whole token) and atest (18 decimals)
The intention is to provide direct examples for hands-on testing, rather than abstract placeholders wherever possible.

The evmd Reference Network

evmd is the official Cosmos EVM reference implementation available in the cosmos/evm repository. It serves as: Living Documentation: Most examples in these docs can be run verbatim using evmd Testing Environment: Quickly spin up a local network using the local-node.sh script in the cosmos/evm repo Integration Reference: See exactly how the EVM module integrates with Cosmos SDK Code and CLI examples are immediately executable:
evmd query bank balances cosmos1... --denom test
evmd start --chain-id local-1
evmd keys add alice
No placeholders or generic commands - every example works directly with the evmd reference implementation.

Token Denomination System

The evmd network uses the EVM standard 18-decimal format for the native/staking token.
TokenDecimalsUsageExample Amount
test0Native Cosmos operations1 TEST = 1000000000000000000atest
atest18EVM operations and gas1000000000000000000atest = 1 TEST

Quick Start with evmd

1. Get the Binary

git clone https://github.com/cosmos/evm.git
cd evm
make install

2. Initialize Local Network

evmd init mynode --chain-id local-1 --default-denom atest

3. Create Test Account

evmd keys add alice
evmd genesis add-genesis-account alice 1000000000000atest

4. Start the Network

evmd start --json-rpc.enable --json-rpc.api eth,web3,net
Now you can follow along with / test documentation examples verbatim.

Next Steps