Alterna Network is a Layer-1 blockchain. This means that in its operations, it does not depend on any other blockchain for finalizing transactions sent to it. In other words, once the Alterna Network validators have achieved consensus about a transaction and added it to the ledger, this is sufficient for the transaction to be valid and irreversible.

In addition to the information about the transactions processed by the Alterna Network, its nodes also permanently store and update the code and current state of smart contracts. Smart contracts are computer programs (persistent scripts) that anyone can interact with by sending transactions summoning them. Smart contracts also have accounts that can hold token balances.

On the network nodes, smart contracts are stored and executed in an environment called a 'virtual machine' (VM). The Alterna Network blockchain is broadly compatible with Ethereum's virtual machine (EVM).

Any smart contract or decentralized application (dApp) deployed on Ethereum or another EVM-compatible chain will also function if deployed on Alterna Network, including the ERC20 and ERC721 standard-compatible contracts, for instance. No modification of the smart contract code is required.