Why Smart Contract Audits Are More Important Than They Seem

Creating smart contracts can be a process that takes just a few weeks. However, ensuring their security and preventing potential financial losses can demand more time and resources. I encountered this firsthand when my project underwent its first smart contract audit with CertiK.

First Impressions of the Audit Process

Initially, I thought the audit would be straightforward: submit the code, receive feedback, make corrections, and get a neat report. However, the reality was far more complex.

The complete cycle of auditing, making corrections, and re-evaluations took nearly two months and cost more than the smart contract development itself. This seemed odd at first: the contract was already written, all functions were operational, and tests were passed. Why should verification be more expensive than creation?

The Roles of Developer and Auditor

The developer builds the system, while the auditor's task is to identify potential points of failure and ways to circumvent the system. This isn't simply about finding bugs in Solidity code. Auditors delve into the entire product logic:

• Who holds administrative rights?
• Can critical parameters be altered?
• Does the owner have excessive privileges?
• What happens with non-standard sequences of actions?
• How do contracts interact with each other?
• What if a user does something unexpected?

The Audit Process and Its Importance

The first version of the audit report is just the beginning. After receiving the report, we discussed the results with the team, corrected the code, and adjusted the business logic. Sometimes, fixing one part of the code raised new questions in another.

Thus, an audit is not merely a check for code errors. It's a project aimed at analyzing architecture, roles, access rights, and the logic of fund movement. In regular development, we think about making a function work, while in an audit, someone is specifically trying to make it work against us.

Security as a Priority

Smart contract audits should not be postponed. If your product involves users' money, security must be a priority from the outset. It's not just an option before launch or a badge of honor for your website. Audits reduce risks and help uncover vulnerabilities before the market does.

This experience changed my perspective on audits. I realized that they are not expenses to be minimized, but a crucial stage where the project first answers the key question: what happens to users' money if someone tries to break our system?