Beyond the EVM: Why Gavin Wood Believes JAM Will Reshape Blockchain's Foundation

The blockchain industry has long operated under a shared consensus. A decade ago, Gavin Wood’s EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) became that consensus—the universal language enabling developers worldwide to build on a common platform. Now, after witnessing the limitations of current blockchain architecture, Wood has introduced JAM (Join Accumulate Machine), positioned as the next evolutionary leap in distributed systems design.

Understanding JAM: More Than a Protocol Upgrade

JAM represents something fundamentally different from traditional blockchain innovations. Rather than being a specialized tool for a single chain, it functions as a foundational protocol enabling elastic scalability, distributed collaboration, and cross-network interoperability across all participating systems.

The protocol’s distinguishing feature lies in its architectural flexibility. Unlike conventional designs that only make computing modules programmable, JAM extends programmability to both the collaboration process between modules and the accumulation effects across the system—hence its name. Developers no longer need to build blockchain infrastructure from scratch; JAM serves as the new default foundation, allowing builders to construct their own systems while potentially sharing security networks across different tokens and ecosystems.

Wood describes JAM as the result of building from first principles rather than incremental optimization. When drafting the JAM specification, he deliberately avoided gradually expanding existing frameworks. Instead, the protocol absorbs Polkadot’s proven cryptoeconomic mechanisms while adopting Ethereum’s more accessible interface model, creating something neither project could achieve alone.

The Distributed Development Model: A Paradigm Shift

As Gavin tours the globe meeting JAM developers, a striking difference emerges compared to previous projects he’s led. During Polkadot’s development within a traditional corporate structure, team members worked under conventional employment arrangements—responsibilities were expected because salaries were guaranteed. JAM’s development follows an inverted logic.

Current JAM developers operate without stable income, investing personal time and resources while bearing their own risk. They receive rewards only after delivering tangible results, creating what Wood describes as genuine initiative and conviction rarely seen in traditional organizational hierarchies. This bottom-up, passion-driven model—reminiscent of Ethereum’s early days around 2015—has attracted over 35 independent teams globally.

Rather than steering development, Wood functions as a consultant and specification author. He writes the gray paper, verifies technical feasibility, and answers questions when developers need guidance. But the momentum comes from the builders themselves, motivated by genuine belief in the project’s vision rather than employment contracts.

JAM as Industry Infrastructure: The x64 Parallel

Wood’s most compelling argument positions JAM as blockchain’s equivalent to the x64 instruction set. He recalls how Intel designed the x86 architecture for its processors, dominating computing for decades. Yet when the industry transitioned to 64-bit computing, Intel’s proprietary approach failed to gain acceptance. AMD, traditionally the follower, engineered a simpler, more feasible 64-bit extension based on Intel’s existing design—and the market chose AMD’s route. Roles reversed as both companies eventually adopted the neutral “x64” standard.

This historical parallel illuminates Wood’s vision. Just as x64became the rational evolutionary standard for computing, JAM appears positioned to become blockchain’s fundamental standard—a neutral technology that specific chains can customize for their own governance models, token mechanisms, and staking systems. The protocol’s highly general-purpose instruction set (PVM) allows different blockchains to gain scalability advantages while maintaining their distinct identities.

Wood is already exploring the next frontier: enabling two blockchain networks built on JAM but using different tokens to achieve deeper integration—sharing security infrastructure while preserving separate token systems. He believes this technical direction, even if not the final form of blockchain architecture, represents a breakthrough capable of reshaping the industry landscape.

Addressing the Post-Trust Era Through Decentralization

As artificial intelligence reshapes information landscapes, Wood identifies a critical vulnerability: society has entered a “post-trust era” where people either distrust everything or place faith in unreliable sources. AI amplifies these risks by nature—it weakens truth verification while strengthening dependence on model providers and service operators. Users cannot audit training data, understand reasoning chains, or truly verify accuracy.

Wood argues that Web3 technology offers the counterbalance. If AI’s logic is “less truth, more trust,” then Web3’s fundamental principle is “less trust, more truth.” Decentralized systems enable individuals to verify facts independently rather than relying on opaque algorithmic decisions. In free societies, the solution isn’t stronger AI regulation but rather removing unnecessary Web3 restrictions and providing genuine support for decentralized infrastructure builders.

A Message to the Next Generation

Speaking to young developers now joining JAM—many still students, embodying the same idealism and desire for systemic change that motivated Gavin decades ago—his message is direct: engage immediately and dig deeper. For those who value free will and personal sovereignty, Web3 development isn’t optional—it’s a responsibility no one else can assume.

Wood’s own path illustrates this trajectory. In late 2013, a casual pub conversation in London with Johnny Bitcoin led to an introduction to Vitalik Kutsupov’s emerging Ethereum project. Half-joking about his programming abilities, Wood found himself recruited as an independent developer. Over the next four to five months, developers like Wood, Vitalik, and Jeff Wilcke transformed the Ethereum white paper into the formal yellow paper specification, establishing the protocol that would define a decade.

That journey—starting as an independent developer with spare time, building a protocol from nothing, learning communication and community engagement alongside coding—launched a career spanning eleven years without extended programming breaks. For Wood, this remains the authentic template for blockchain innovation: coding as the starting point, perseverance through learning, and the conviction that vision can indeed transform into technological reality.

The developers now building JAM have this same opportunity before them. If they possess sufficient passion and capability, Wood insists, nothing can obstruct their path—except this time, the destination is JAM rather than Ethereum. The protocol’s potential to become an industry standard, combined with the distributed model enabling genuine ownership of the development process, creates conditions for the next generation to shape blockchain’s fundamental architecture.