Architecture Overview

System Architecture Overview

Irys is a base layer where storage, execution, and verifiability are designed together, but handled by separate components.

Each component has a clear responsibility. Together, they form a system where data remains accessible, execution remains performant, and guarantees remain enforceable as the network scales.

• Storage
  The storage layer persists data onchain for flexible durations. Once written, data is treated as an independent resource. It remains available to the network and can be reused by multiple applications over time. Growth in stored data does not directly congest execution.
• Execution
  The execution layer runs smart contracts. Irys provides a native, EVM-compatible execution environment where smart contracts can access stored data during execution using tools that builders are already familiar with.
• Verifiability and coordination
  The protocol enforces guarantees about data and execution. Data availability, integrity, and accountability are verified at the protocol level through cryptographic proofs and economic incentives. Pricing and incentives are coordinated so that storage, execution, and programmable data usage reinforce each other rather than compete.
• Separation without fragmentation
  These components do not share bottlenecks. Storage does not consume execution throughput. Execution does not distort storage pricing. Verifiability does not require an external application. Each part scales according to its own constraints while remaining part of a unified base layer.