💡 What is a «Smart Contract Audit» and why is it important?

⚫️ The use of smart contracts and decentralization are key features of the crypto world, offering new opportunities but also bringing new risks. Dealing with digital assets is inherently dangerous, but people do it for the great potential rewards. One significant risk to consider is the hacking of the protocol's smart contracts that you are using. How can you manage this?

🖊 Diversifying assets and projects, securing your holdings in stablecoins, and storing funds in non-custodial or even cold wallets are all essential practices. However, today we’ll delve a bit deeper beyond the basic «hygiene» of the crypto world.

⚫️ What is a Smart Contract Audit? In the traditional world, an audit is a review conducted by independent experts. In the crypto world, it’s essentially the same thing. A protocol presents the code of its smart contract to a team specializing in security and hacking resilience. Their job is to identify vulnerabilities and potential loopholes that could be exploited by malicious actors.

⚫️ For projects on TON, audits are primarily conducted by two organizations: TonTech and CertiK. TonTech, supported by TON Foundation, assists TON builders in creating high-quality and secure products. CertiK, one of the leading auditors in the Web3 space, provides a thorough analysis across several factors, including code, fundamental, operational, community, and also market and governance for projects with their own tokens. Recently, other independent organizations like Zellic, Trail of Bits, and Quantstamp have also started auditing smart contracts on TON.

⚫️ For example, the liquid staking protocol Tonstakers and the non-custodial wallet MyTonWallet have successfully passed audits by CertiK: the first, the second. Additionally, the decentralized exchange DeDust.io is currently undergoing an audit.

🖊 An important aspect of security is the presence of a Bug Bounty program, which offers financial rewards to users who discover vulnerabilities in a protocol and choose to report them for a fair reward instead of exploiting them (shoutout to Peskar). While audits significantly reduce the risk of a hack, they are not a 100% guarantee that a project is fully protected. Always assess the risks and make informed decisions before investing your funds.

@thedailyton