Rome Protocol

Rome Protocol lets apps written for Ethereum run on Solana. It does this with an EVM, the engine that runs Ethereum smart contracts, built as one program inside Solana. Developers deploy their Solidity code to a Rome chain without changes. The code then runs on Solana and settles there.

There is no bridge between the two sides. A Rome contract can call a Solana program in the same transaction. A token on Solana and its Ethereum-style (ERC-20) form are the same account.

Rome's EVM program is live on Solana mainnet. The security firm Halborn has reviewed it three times, most recently in September 2026. The public chains in Rome's docs are still test networks. Rome has no token.

How Rome's EVM runs inside Solana

Rome's EVM is a Solana program that reads and runs Ethereum contract code. When you send an Ethereum-style transaction, a service called the Rome Proxy wraps it in a Solana transaction. The Rome EVM program then runs the Solidity code on Solana. Rome's docs sum up the design in one line: EVM state is Solana state.

Three pieces do the work, according to Rome's architecture page:

• The Rome EVM program executes contracts and maps each Ethereum address to a Solana account.
• The Rome Proxy is a standard Ethereum JSON-RPC server, so Hardhat, Foundry, viem and MetaMask connect to it as they would to any EVM chain.
• Hercules is an indexer that watches the program and rebuilds Ethereum-style blocks for explorers and wallets.

Solidity reaches Solana programs through a special contract address called the CPI precompile. CPI, or cross-program invocation, is how one Solana program calls another. A lending contract on Rome could, for example, swap through a Solana exchange and credit the result in one atomic transaction. Either everything happens or nothing does.

You can use Rome apps with either kind of wallet. MetaMask users sign normal EVM transactions. Phantom users sign with their Solana key and need no separate EVM address.

Solana caps how much computing one transaction can use, at about 1.4 million compute units. Rome runs small EVM transactions atomically inside that cap. Larger ones run in "iterative" mode, split across several Solana transactions with the accounts locked in between.

Each Rome chain picks its own gas token, which can be any SPL token. Rome prices gas by reading a Meteora MET$0.346+0.3% pool that pairs the gas token with SOL. Rome's public test chains use USDC for gas.

Is Rome Protocol on mainnet? Mainnet and testnet status

Rome's EVM program is live on Solana mainnet at the address RomePq9X3iAoTr813HR7uRarafFDUJty6GdiEceYpzX, per the rome-evm repository. Rome announced "Mainnet is live" on 3 October 2026, when it opened its code on GitHub.

The developer docs have not caught up. In October 2026 they list only two public chains to build on, and both settle on Solana devnet:

Rome's docs publish no chain ID or public RPC endpoint for a mainnet chain. If you are a developer, treat Martius and Hadrian as the place to build for now. Tokens on those chains have no value.

Rome apps: Portus, Privacy DEX, Bloom and Oracle Gateway

Portus is the first Rome app on mainnet. Rome launched it on 9 October 2026 so that users of the Base network can lend USDC on Solana without leaving Base. You sign on Base, Circle's CCTP transfer service carries your USDC and instructions to a contract on Rome, and that contract deposits into Kamino Finance KMNO$0.040-0.4% lending markets. Withdrawals return USDC to the same Base address, according to Rome.

The other apps are on test networks, per Rome's docs:

• Privacy DEX offers private swaps, a USDC vault and limit orders on Solana devnet. It is built on Helius Privacy, which is in beta. Amounts are encrypted, but your address stays visible.
• Oracle Gateway presents Pyth Network PYTH$0.080+10.6% and Switchboard price feeds through the Chainlink interface that Solidity contracts already expect.
• Aerarium is a Compound v3 lending market that EVM and Solana wallets share.
• Cardo lets an EVM account use Solana DeFi apps.
• Bloom is a permissioned system for issuing real-world assets on Rome chains.
• Rome Bridge moves assets across chains through CCTP and Wormhole.

Launching your own EVM chain on Solana with App Sovereignty

App Sovereignty is Rome's product for teams that want their own EVM chain on Solana. Each chain gets its own chain ID and its own gas token, and the gas fees go to the app's treasury instead of a shared pool. Rome's App Sovereignty page says the Rome team provisions and operates the chain after you apply through its Sovereign Portal. The docs list no price for the service.

Rome ZK EVM and Ostia: the newer rollup projects

Rome released two more designs in October 2026, and neither is ready for real funds.

Rome ZK EVM is a rollup that settles only on Solana. A rollup processes transactions off-chain and posts the results, with a mathematical proof, to a base chain. Here the transactions, state roots and proofs all land on Solana. The repository says it runs on devnet only, and that Rome can upgrade the devnet programs without notice.

Ostia is an EVM chain ordered by the Canton Network and proven with the ZisK zkVM. Its README says the code is not audited and warns: "Do not use Ostia for anything of value."

Who Rome Protocol is for

Rome Protocol is built for Solidity developers who want to reach Solana's markets without rewriting their code in Rust. It suits three groups best:

• Ethereum teams with audited Solidity code, such as a lending market, that want to call Solana programs.
• Solana teams that want EVM wallets to reach the programs they already run.
• Projects that want their own chain and gas token, and accept that Rome runs it for them.

Ordinary users have less to do so far. Portus serves Base users who want Solana lending rates on USDC. If you already hold assets in a Solana wallet, you can use the same Solana apps directly.

Contracts that depend on exact Ethereum gas behaviour are a poor fit, for reasons covered in the next section.

Is Rome Protocol safe? Halborn audits, upgrade keys and risks

Halborn reviewed the Rome EVM program three times, and Rome publishes the executive summaries in its audit folder. The audits cover the EVM program only. They do not cover the apps, Rome ZK EVM or Ostia.

In the third review, 21 lower-severity findings were marked risk accepted and 37 acknowledged. Rome says Halborn rebuilt the program on 29 September 2026 and confirmed it matches the mainnet deployment. Anyone can repeat that check with a script in the repository.

The risks that remain are mostly about control and compatibility:

• The mainnet program can be upgraded. Rome's README names a Squads multisig, a wallet that needs several people to sign, as the upgrade authority. It does not say how many signers there are or who they are.
• Each chain has one operator. Rome's known limitations page says each Rome deployment is run by a single entity and that "there is no decentralized operator set".
• Rome's EVM differs from Ethereum's. It does not meter gas per operation and has no 2,300-gas stipend, so contracts that rely on the stipend to block reentrancy need their own guards. SELFDESTRUCT is unsupported, and the modexp precompile is disabled.
• App contracts are a separate risk. With Portus, a Rome contract holds and tracks your lending position. Rome's launch post cites no separate audit of that contract.
• The EVM program is source-available, with a licence that makes commercial use subject to Rome's written permission.

Rome Protocol vs Neon EVM for running Solidity on Solana

Rome Protocol and Neon EVM both run the EVM as a Solana program, but only Rome is still being developed. Neon's team announced a wind-down: development and support ended on 1 October 2026, and users have until 31 December 2026 to migrate or withdraw.

Rome differs from Neon in two ways that matter to builders. Rome lets each chain choose its gas token, and it lets Solana wallets sign for EVM contracts directly. The trade-off is maturity. Rome's mainnet program is days old as of October 2026, and its documented public chains are test networks.

The other route is to skip the EVM and rewrite the app as a native Solana program. That costs more engineering time but removes the operator and the compatibility layer.

Rome Protocol token and airdrop

Rome Protocol has no token. Its website and docs describe no token of its own and no airdrop, as checked in October 2026. Some third-party sites publish "airdrop guides" for Rome's testnet, but Rome has promised no rewards in its own docs. Gas on a Rome chain is paid in the SPL token that chain picks.

Rome Protocol founders, funding and history

Anil Kumar and Sattvik Kansal founded Rome Protocol in 2023. The company raised a $9 million seed round in July 2024, CoinDesk reported. Hack VC, P2 Ventures, HashKey, Portal Ventures and Bankless Ventures led the round. Angel backers included Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, Austin Federa and Nick White.

Rome's pitch has changed since then. In 2024 it called itself a shared sequencer: a service that would use Solana to order transactions for Ethereum layer-2 networks. Its docs now lead with the EVM inside Solana. The names Rhea, Remus and Romulus now label three transaction types. Rhea is a single EVM transaction, Remus spans several Rome chains, and Romulus mixes EVM and Solana steps.