Hyperledger Burrow was software for running a blockchain whose participants were explicitly approved, rather than allowing anyone to join. It executed Ethereum-style smart contracts: programs whose results become part of the network's shared state. That model suited applications needing agreed transactions among a controlled group of participants. Burrow is now end of life, so this page helps identify existing networks and the state and contracts a replacement would need to preserve.
Deployment and operating notes
The historical entry is Hyperledger Burrow, a permissioned smart-contract blockchain, not another product sharing the Burrow name. Its upstream repository is now in the Hyperledger archive and states that the original maintainers moved the project to end-of-life status. The open-source code remains available, but this is not evidence of ongoing security maintenance or a supported Kubernetes package.
Existing operators should preserve genesis configuration, validator keys, chain state, deployed contracts and application RPC expectations before attempting replacement. An EVM-compatible alternative is not automatically compatible with Burrow permissions, consensus behavior, transaction formats or historical state. Establish whether the requirement is to preserve the original network or launch a new network and migrate application state; those are different projects. Keep signing keys out of chart values and review who can retrieve old backups. A migration needs contract-level and application-level reconciliation with an agreed cutover point. No automatic successor or state-conversion procedure was established in this review.
Historical upstream link check · 2026-10-09
The recorded upstream address returned HTTP 404 on 2026-10-09; that URL was unavailable in this check. GitHub marks hyperledger-archives/burrow as archived. This confirms the repository's read-only archive state; any successor or supported distribution needs separate evidence. GitHub resolves the old repository identity to hyperledger-archives/burrow. Link availability does not certify the historical installation instructions or current security support. The GitHub API verifies the linked repository's current location. Its repository overview is provided because the old subpage is unavailable; this is not a replacement installation guide.
Website availability is separate from project, chart and image support. Use the current guidance and primary sources on this page to assess the distribution.
Historical Kubedex content
Original publication: 2018-09-06T16:42:34+00:00. Preserved for context. Commands, versions, prices and results below reflect the original research.
Burrow is a permissioned Ethereum smart-contract blockchain node. It executes Ethereum smart contract code on a permissioned virtual machine. Burrow provides transaction finality and high transaction throughput on a proof-of-stake Tendermint consensus engine.
What is Burrow
Hyperledger Burrow is a permissioned blockchain node that executes a smart contract code following the Ethereum specification. Burrow is built for a multi-chain universe with application specific optimization in mind. Burrow as a node is constructed out of three main components: the consensus engine, the permissioned Ethereum virtual machine, and the RPC gateway. More specifically Burrow consists of the following:
Consensus Engine:
Transactions are ordered and finalised with the Byzantine-fault-tolerant Tendermint protocol. The Tendermint protocol provides high transaction throughput over a set of known validators and prevents the blockchain from forking.
Application Blockchain Interface (ABCI):
The smart contract application interfaces with the consensus engine over the ABCI. The ABCI allows for the consensus engine to remain agnostic from the smart contract application.
Smart Contract Application: Transactions are validated and applied to the application state in the order that the consensus engine has finalized them. The application state consists of all accounts, the validator set, and the name registry. Accounts in Burrow have permissions and either contain smart contract code or correspond to a public-private key pair. A transaction that calls on the smart contract code in a given account will activate the execution of that account’s code in a permissioned virtual machine.
Permissioned Ethereum Virtual Machine:
This virtual machine is built to observe the Ethereum operation code specification and additionally asserts the correct permissions have been granted. Permissioning is enforced through secure native functions and underlies all smart contract code. An arbitrary but finite amount of gas is handed out for every execution to ensure a finite execution duration – “You don’t need money to play when you have permission to play”.
Application Binary Interface (ABI):
Transactions need to be formulated in a binary format that can be processed by the blockchain node. Current tooling provides functionality to compile, deploy and link solidity smart contracts and formulate transactions to call smart contracts on the chain.
API Gateway:
Burrow exposes REST and JSON-RPC endpoints to interact with the blockchain network and the application state through broadcasting transactions or querying the current state of the application. Websockets allow subscribing to events, which is particularly valuable as the consensus engine and smart contract application can give unambiguously finalized results to transactions within one block time of about one second.
The post Burrow appeared first on kubedex.com.
Sources & further reading
Spotted something that needs another look?
Help improve this page →