Chasing Bugs On A Blockchain

In the Sring of 2022, before some of the most Volatile events to hit the Crypto World last year, an NFT artist named Micah Johnson set out to build a New Auction of his drawings. Johnson is well known in Crypto cycles for Images featuring his charactor Aku, a young black boy who dreams of being an Astronaut.

Collectors lined-up for the New Release. On the day of the Auction, they spent $34 million on the NFTs.

Then, the Smart Contract Code the Johson's Software team wrote to run the Crytpo Auction contain a Critical Bug.

All $34 million worth of Jackson's Sales were Locked on the Ethereum Blockchain. Johnson couldn't withdraw the Funds, nor could he Refund Money to People who Bid on the NFT but Lost their Auction. The Virtual Money was Frozen, Untouchable, Locked on the Chain, as they say.

Ronghi Gu, the Co-Founder of CertiK, the Largest Smart-Contract Auditor in the World of Crtptocurrencie and Web3. A Computer Science Professor at Columbia University, Gu leads a team of more than 250 that pores over Crypto Code to try to make sure it isn't filled with Bugs.

CertiK's work help Prevent an Overlooked Software Issue from doing irrparable Damage. The company's clients inlude some of Crypto's biggest Players, some after they Lost millions, hoping it doesn't happen again. This is a real wild world, Gu says with a laugh.

Crypto Code is much more Unforgiving than traditional Software. Engineers try to make their programs as bug-free as possible before they ship, but if a problem or bug is later found, the Code can be upadted.

That's not possible with many Crypto Projects. They run using Smart Contracts, computer Code that governs the Transaction. A Smart Contract, is Coded to perform a Transaction, like send a NFT Token once Currency arrives in the Artist's Crypto Wallet.

But, once a Smart Contract Code is Live on the Blockchain, you can't change it. If you find a Bug, it's to late. Worse, Code that's hosted on a Blockchain is Publicly Visible, so Hackers can study it at their leisure and look for Mistakes to Exploit.

CertiK has expanded its clients to, Banks and a major Search Engine, who are launching their own Blockchain Products.










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