• The Stellar Development Foundation has partnered with Certora to enhance the security of its smart contracts platform, Soroban.
• Certora’s formal verification tools not only check the code but offer continuous integration, ensuring code alignment with specifications as it evolves.

On Wednesday, October 11, the Stellar Development Foundation joined hands with Certora while announcing additional security support to its native smart contracts platform Soroban. The two players together will work on bringing cutting-edge formal security verification to Soroban.

Certora, traditionally linked with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), has expanded its support to include Soroban, the first platform powered by WASM (WebAssembly).

In the competitive realm of smart contracts, security stands as a paramount concern. Smart contracts, responsible for automating operations on blockchain networks, operate within a sensitive landscape. They manage substantial capital, are completely transparent, making their code and bugs visible to anyone, and possess immutability, necessitating extensive governance procedures for bug rectification.

In this context, security is not up for debate, and the accuracy of code is pivotal in preventing vulnerabilities and protecting user assets. Certora, an innovative formal verification tool, has emerged as a leader in this endeavor, granting developers the tools necessary for code validation. Speaking on the development, Tomer Weller, VP of Product at Stellar Development Foundation said:

“Certora’s support of Soroban will give the more than 100 projects already on the platform access to innovative verification tools built to help achieve software correctness. Coupled with the built-in testing and security of Soroban, developers have the tools needed to avoid the vulnerabilities we have seen make headlines in the past and make way for a secure DeFi ecosystem from the start”.

Certora and Soroban – Working Hand In Hand

Certora’s robust software capitalizes on two decades of academic research and innovative technologies, effectively extending Formal Verification to real-world programs. This approach ensures the safety and dependability of smart contracts.

Over the past four years, Certora has safeguarded customer code, averting over 100 high-security bugs in prominent DeFi protocols like Aave, Balancer, Compound, suhsiSwap, and others. As per DeFiLlama, Certora has secured a total value of $25 billion locked on the Ethereum network.

Nevertheless, Certora’s formal verification tools extend beyond one-time code checks. It offers an ongoing integration service, which ensures that the code continuously aligns with specifications. This proactive approach to verification effectively prevents bugs and vulnerabilities from infiltrating the codebase from the outset, ultimately conserving time and resources. This service seamlessly integrates into the regular development pipeline.

Soroban represents a new generation of smart contracts, emphasizing scalability, sustainability, and robust testing. With the adoption of WASM, a versatile binary-code format ideal for blockchain ecosystems, Soroban extends its accessibility to a broad spectrum of programming languages and tools, including testing.

Certora’s formal verification capabilities empower Soroban developers to fortify the reliability and security of their smart contracts, offering end-users enhanced confidence in the applications they interact with. Mooly Sagiv, CEO of Certora said:

“One of the lessons learned from our experience in DeFi is that tools and auditing come too late in the development process. This oversight increases software costs and leads to bugs being detected only after vulnerabilities have been exploited. Certora’s tools can help developers write specifications before the code is complete to ensure safe, reliable applications. We are excited to join the Soroban ecosystem”.

Stellar has also been working with other market players to push the use of blockchain technology in emerging markets. Along with consulting giant PwC, the Stellar Development Foundation has released an extensive framework outlining the necessary steps for web3 startups to seize opportunities in burgeoning markets. Additionally, the Stellar Foundation has been working on improving the infrastructure for cross-border payments using the power of blockchain.