> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cts-docs.cosmos.network/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Alternative Chains

> Running the digital ledger on Hyperledger Besu or a bank's own EVM chain.

The digital ledger is EVM agnostic. The Cosmos Tokenization Suite (CTS) contracts and
IBC contracts use Solidity. CTS communicates with the chain through EVM
JSON-RPC.

A bank can therefore host the digital ledger on its own EVM chain or another
required chain instead of [Cosmos EVM](/digital-ledger-support/cosmos-evm).

## Supported alternatives

| Chain            | Use                                                |
| ---------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| Hyperledger Besu | Supported alternative hosting chain for production |
| Anvil            | Local development and testing                      |

A bank's own EVM chain is supported on the same basis: EVM compatibility is the
requirement, not a specific implementation.

## What changes

The CTS application layer is unchanged. The digital ledger instead inherits
the following characteristics from its underlying chain:

* Throughput and latency become that chain's throughput and latency.
* Finality becomes that chain's finality model. Probabilistic finality affects
  settlement timing differently from single-block finality. See
  [Finality](/settlement/finality).
* Operational characteristics, including validator setup and high availability,
  follow that chain's model.
* Connectivity requires a custom IBC deployment on the chain. Only
  [Cosmos EVM](/digital-ledger-support/cosmos-evm) integrates IBC natively.
  Custom deployment is supported and requires additional work from the bank.
* Cosmos EVM precompiles are absent. The operations they accelerate therefore
  run as ordinary contracts.

<Note>
  Performance on Hyperledger Besu and other EVM chains has not been benchmarked.
  The figures published for [Cosmos EVM](/digital-ledger-support/cosmos-evm) do not
  carry over. Scope expected performance with the Cosmos team before committing
  to an alternative chain for production.
</Note>

## Related

* [Overview](/digital-ledger-support/overview)
* [Cosmos EVM](/digital-ledger-support/cosmos-evm)