Formal Reasoning about Financial Systems Workshop

Formal methods is a mature field in computer science with excellent tools including static program analyzers, fuzzers, formal verification tools, Satisfiability Modulo Theories checkers, and more.

Recently, these techniques have been integrated into the industry by companies including Amazon, Certora, Consensys, Facebook, Imandra, Runtime Verification, and Trails of Bits.

This one-day workshop brings together researchers developing tools for reasoning about financial systems and smart contracts. We are particularly interested in DeFi, an emerging suite of applications for decentralized asset management over blockchain technology. DeFi is becoming a major economic vehicle in modern society. The Ethereum blockchain alone already manages more than 235 billion USD worth of assets. One of the basic principles behind DeFi is that the code is law and computer programs called smart contracts that run on the blockchain dictate the conditions and the effects for asset transactions. This groundbreaking idea has many desirable benefits that originate from trust-minimizing and immutable aspects of decentralized public blockchains.

However, vulnerabilities in smart contracts and in their applications may be exploited to steal or deny access to assets managed by them. Mitigation and prevention of such damages are challenging and require new software development and security design methodologies. Hundreds of millions in USD value have already been lost due to vulnerabilities in smart contracts. Therefore, smart contract security is a significant concern for DeFi applications.