Basically webassembly is the same core idea as jvm, but redone with all the lessons from the last three decades. A modern cross platform runtime for anything anywhere.
Having read the spec and partially implemented my own WASM VM, if it's goal was to be universal then it wasn't designed very well IMO.
Off the top of my head, it presumes that only 32 and 64 bit types exist, that everything is little-endian, and has parametric instructions[0] for some reason.
Pretty sure WASM was designed only for web browsers with any seriousness and any other usecases are just enthusiastic people trying to shoehorn it into other places because you can technically do it and it's the new exciting hotness.
[0] from memory I think it is only DROP, which makes the decision even more maddeningly silly.
Basically webassembly is the same core idea as jvm, but redone with all the lessons from the last three decades. A modern cross platform runtime for anything anywhere.