Smart Contracts are programs deployed on a blockchain with the purpose to execute a particular condition in a predefined way where none of the parties need to trust each other. A smart contract ensures that the executed action for a particular condition is always in accordance with the logic provided originally in it. Upon the execution of a particular execution its results are immutable and are stored on a blockchain.
In this article we will discuss 5 things to check on a smart contract before investing in a project. In the current scenario where various blockchain ecosystems are growing on a massive scale, so is the number of scammers trying to exploit smart contracts. Therefore it becomes highly important for an individual to know the common smart contract parameters to check before investing in a project
GENERAL VULNERABILITY PARAMETERS ASSOCIATED WITH SMART CONTRACTS
Smart contracts can be compromised by various hackers through different methods and loopholes in the smart contract. But majorly they revolve around few core parameters:
- Execution of Unintentioned Unknown Code: This type of error mostly happens due to the presence of fallback functions within a smart contract.
- Reentrancy: In most of the blockchains the calling code or the validation code waits for the end of external processing before continuing its own execution, this state can be exploited by various crackers to perform major hacks.
- Incorrect Calculations of Output: Broadly this can occur due to various reasons some of which can be listed as-
- Incorrect Decimal Handling: This error can lead to lost user friends and even funds being locked fo
- rever.
- Incorrect Order of Operations During Fee Calculation: This leads to accuracy loss and in cases where slippage is not regulated it can cause huge toll on users.
- Incorrectly Handled Exceptions
- Repeated use of irrelevant library functions throughout various projects causing execution bugs due to irrelevant source code.
All of this may sound a bit too technical and hard to check for most of us. But, but, but, you need not worry team WCT has summarised the above technical parameters as a few checkpoints you can check on a projects smart contract audit before investing in it. So, without any further delay let’s get into quick things to check on a smart contract before investing.
THINGS TO CHECK ON A SMART CONTRACT BEFORE INVESTING
Here is a brief checklist of things you can make a quick check on a project’s audit report to make sure it is free of possible bugs and cracking attempts.
- Check the auditors rating for the Smart Contact: Top-notch auditors like Hacken, and Certik provide a review rating to a project’s smart contract after their audit. Tha rating is based on the quality of code, redundancy, above mentioned factors, check for bugs, and any possible loophole in the code. This rating can be understood as the overall summary of the audit if you want a quick conclusion.
- Architecture Quality Score: This score is generally a parameter of the overall structure of the code telling you about the structural quality. A good architecture quality score helps ensure that the smart contract does not possess any reentrancy or unknown code execution issues.
- Security Score By The Auditor: The security score of a project’s source code helps understand if the project has any critical bugs/loopholes that can cause major vulnerabilities to the project.
- Authorization Through tx.origin: Always ensure that tx.origin is not being used for authorization as it can be overwritten and can be used to exploit the deposited tx amounts.
- Library Functions Check: The majority of hacking attempts being attempted on various functions these days always revolve around using common exploits in a particular library function being used across various projects. So, to be on a safer side, make a list of the library functions being used on a project’s source code and check if a particular library has been compromised in the past.
Following these basic things before investing in a project can prevent you from big losses in the longer run making your crypto investing journey safe. At WCT our motto is to emerge as a one stop solution for all of your crypto content needs providing you the most relevant information on important topics in a concise way.
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