Best smart contract auditing companies will be described in this article. Since most protocols rely on a complex collection of smart contracts, smart contract audits are a crucial part of crypto security in the highly competitive world of DeFi, where exploits are frequently found. Two main goals are accomplished by a good smart contract audit. Security is first and foremost, of course. Good smart contract assurance helps uncover any problems and makes sure that the protocol is taking the appropriate action to fix any bugs or weaknesses that could endanger the cash of its users. A competent smart contract auditor can still conduct thorough evaluations to find any problems, potentially preventing catastrophic vulnerabilities after launch, even though there are no guarantees that a protocol will be secure after an audit.
Second, a strong audit shows the crypto community and possible VC investors that a foundational level of security has been built, which fosters a certain amount of confidence and trust in the project. This is crucial for current projects deploying a significant upgrade as well as new projects entering the market. Before any significant changes to smart contracts are put to production, it is increasingly common practise to have an audit performed by a third party auditor rather than “test in production.” Additionally, cer.live currently follows and rates the cybersecurity of cryptocurrencies and platforms; at CoinGecko, we take these ratings into account when calculating our own TrustScore.
Finally, some security companies have expanded beyond only performing smart contract audits to provide additional cybersecurity services including penetration testing, managing bug bounty programmes, vulnerability analyses, and threat modelling. All of these are extra services that a project might use if they need more help or support.
Here are some things to think about if you’re looking for a good auditor for a project, along with a list of some of the most reputable companies in the business.
Which smart contract auditor should I pick?
Examining the portfolios of the projects/platforms that the potential smart contract auditor has reviewed in the past is one of the first steps in choosing the correct candidate. By doing this, you’ll be able to see how many audits they’ve worked on and, more crucially, whether any of the platforms or projects they worked on have been misused. Additionally, the size and popularity of the projects they have examined can assist determine whether it is worthwhile to hire the auditor because more hackers will likely be interested in larger projects.
While the majority of auditors will provide audits of Ethereum contracts, only a select few will be qualified to examine projects on alternative blockchains including Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, Fantom, and BNB. This is due to the particular that even chains that are EVM-compatible have distinct underlying architectures, and some altchains, like Solana and NEAR, use entirely other programming languages, like Rust. It is advisable to evaluate a firm’s level of competency before hiring them for an audit because different firms will have varying areas of expertise in auditing protocols created on various blockchains. You should at the very least check a firm’s portfolio to determine if it has audited your preferred chain in the past. Check the company’s prior audits of Solana-based projects, for instance, if you decide to go with a Solana-based contract audit.
When reviewing previous audit reports, it’s important to keep the audit firm’s technique and approach in mind. The scope of an audit frequently varies across various projects, and audit companies take on assignments of variable complexity in accordance with their agreements with their clients. Of course, the more complete and in-depth the audit, the better, but it also entails a longer completion time and higher project costs. A thorough audit also considers the code’s quality because, even if it might not be a problem right now, bad code could lead to issues later on when the protocol needs to be improved.
Another characteristic to look for in a reputable auditor is the calibre of the audit reports. All the problems that were discovered throughout the inquiry should be thoroughly described in a good report. It’s also crucial to note whether the project has taken any action in response to the audit’s findings. While you would anticipate a smart contract audit report to be highly technical, it’s also a good sign to search for one that is well-structured and written clearly in a way that the majority of people can understand.
Top 11 Best Smart Contract Auditing Companies In 2022
Top 11 Best Smart Contract Auditing Companies are explained here.
1. Hacken
- 700+ projects have been onboarded.
- $100 billion or more is the portfolio’s total MCAP.
- Key customers include FTX, Avalanche, VeChain, Huobi, and Kyber.
- Ethereum, EVM chains, Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, NEAR, Fantom, and BNB are among the supported chains.
- 2 projects have been audited on Rektboard.
- Amount total rekt: $8.5M
With an emphasis on blockchain security, security experts and white hat hackers launched Hacken, a top cybersecurity consulting firm. Hacken has been educating and expanding the ethical hacking community since its founding in 2017, establishing them as a dominant force in the market. With a $1.5M investment in Cer.live and the release of products like the Hackenproof BugBounty platform with 10,000+ ethical hackers, Hacken.ai, hVPN, and hPass, Hacken has made efforts to continuously cultivate and develop the blockchain security ecosystem. It currently has over 700 projects in its portfolio and a market value of over $100 billion. Over 80 projects have been completed by the business, including well-known initiatives like FTX, Avalanche, VeChain, Huobi, Kyber, and others. Hacken offers a wide range of security services to its clients in addition to advice on blockchain security, including web/mobile penetration testing, vulnerability analyses, and bug bounty programme management. This is another smart contract auditing companies. Also check crashPlan alternatives
Two of Hacken’s audited protocols, Warp Finance and Merlin Labs, had combined losses of $8.5M in the company’s auditing history. The most notable assault was Warp Finance’s flash loan vulnerability, which allowed the hacker to withdraw a $7.8 million loan. However, the group was successful in obtaining the loan’s security, enabling them to repay 75% of the user’s deposited monies. Following the incident, significant modifications to Hacken’s auditing procedures were made with an emphasis on preventing flash loan exploits.
2. CertiK
- 1,800+ projects have been onboarded.
- $278B+ is the portfolio’s total MCAP.
- Major customers: Terra, Polygon, The Sandbox, and the BNB chain
- All chains are supported.
- 5 projects have been audited on Rektboard.
- Amount total rekt: $100M
This is another smart contract auditing companies. Professors from Yale and Columbia created the blockchain security firm CertiK in 2018. For its end-to-end blockchain security audit services, the company works with some of the top cybersecurity professionals and formal verification and AI technology. This allows CertiK to combine formal and human verification to mathematically validate the security of smart contracts. The business has also created “CertiK Chain,” a blockchain with a security focus created to increase the security of smart contracts. According to CertiK, it has audited more than 1,800 projects and valued the market at more than $278 billion. The business has audited well-known networks like Terra, Polygon, The Sandbox, and the BNB chain. Additionally, Binance, Coinbase, and Golden Sachs support it. Skynet, Skytrace, and Penetration Testing are some of CertiK’s other offerings.
Regrettably, CertiK has made several appearances on the Rekt Leaderboard; most recently, it made its sixth appearance. A total loss of $100M was incurred by six CertiK Audited projects (Saddle Finance, Akropolis, Arbix Finance, Elephant Money, Spartan Protocol, and Vee Finance). The most recent exploit, Arbix Finance, caused a loss of almost $10M. CertiK issued a community advisory on Twitter on January 4th, 2022, advising its followers not to contact with the protocol. Since then, the company has designated the initiative as a Rugpull.
3. Slowmist
- 1000+ projects have been onboarded.
- $150 billion or more is the portfolio’s total MCAP.
- Important customers include Binance, OKX, Huobi, Pancakeswap, and Crypto.com
- Supported chains include EOS, Fabric, Solana, VeChain, and all EVM chains of Ethereum.
- 1 audited projects total on Rektboard
- $34 million was spent in total.
SlowMist is a blockchain security business that was established in 2018 and focuses on offering defence for the blockchain ecosystem. The SlowMist team has over ten years of network security expertise and has worked on a variety of projects, including Binance, OKX, Huobi, Pancakeswap, and Crypto.com. SlowMist offers a range of other security-related products and services in addition to performing security audits and other related services. Among them are SlowMist Hacked, Vulpush (vulnerability monitoring), MistTrack, and anti-money laundering (AML) software (Crypto hack archives). To add value to its services, the company has formed partnerships with a number of national and international security companies, including Akamai, Cloudflare, FireEye, BitDefender, and IPIP. MistTrack, a programme that monitors the transfer of stolen money, is one famous SlowMist service. Since its debut, it has taken care of more than 60 clients and retrieved around $1 billion in stolen money. This is another smart contract auditing companies.
Due to failing contracts, a Slowmist-audited protocol on Avalanche, Vee Finance, was hit for $34M. The problem, according to Slowmist, was that the pre-swap slippage check didn’t work as intended since the attacker utilised this to alter the price of the Pangolin pool, which is the source of Vee Finance’s pricing oracle.
4. Quantstamp
- 200+ projects have been onboarded.
- Portfolio MCAP total: over $200 billion
- Biggest customers: Maker, Curve, and OpenSea
- Supported Chains: Every Chain
- 3 projects have been audited on Rektboard.
- Amount total rekt: $48M
One of the most well-known smart contract auditing businesses in the blockchain industry is Quantstamp. Nearly 200 audits have been completed since the company’s foundation, helping to secure over $200 billion in value. Their team is made up of security experts with PhDs who have worked for the biggest internet companies, including Google, Facebook, Apple, and Ethereum Foundation. With a robust staff of security specialists, Quantstamp can offer auditing services in any language, including those created especially for blockchain applications. Numerous blockchain systems, including Ethereum 2.0, Solana, BNB Chain, Cardano, and protocols like Maker, Curve, and OpenSea have all been audited by the business. Its offerings include financial basic development for Layer 1 blockchain ecosystems, smart contract-powered NFT and DeFi applications, and auditing Layer 1 blockchains. This is another smart contract auditing companies.
Prior high-profile breaches involving three projects that Quantstamp audited resulted in losses totaling roughly $48 million. With losses of $37.5M, the Alpha Finance Hack is one of the biggest in the DeFi industry. Strong evidence suggests that the exploit, which targets publicly available contracts, is unusually complicated. Another victim of a smart contract hack, Rari Capital had tokens worth about $11 million taken from the project. The Rari attack was a very sophisticated cross-chain hack that required communication with numerous other protocols. Finally, rather than being a problem with smart contracts, the Saddle Finance hack was caused by an arbitrage attack on an ineffective protocol.
5. Halborn
- 150+ projects have been onboarded.
- Portfolio total MCAP: $75 billion and up
- Significant users include BlockFi, ApeCoin, Avalanche, THORChain, and Polygon.
- Ethereum, Terra, Cosmos Tendermint, and Algorand are supported chains.
- 1 audited projects total on Rektboard
- $31 million was spent in total.
This is another smart contract auditing companies. Rob Behnke and Steven Walbroehl, two well-known ethical hackers, created Halborn in 2019. The company now employs over 80 highly qualified security engineers. Halborn specialises in identifying security flaws and application design problems when evaluating and testing blockchain applications. They test the smart contract application manually and automatically to make sure it is prepared for mainnet. The company specialises in protocols like Algorand, Substrate, CosmWasm, Terra, CosmWasm, and Substrate. BlockFi, ApeCoin, Avalanche, THORChain, and Polygon are some of its customers. Along with smart contract audits, the company also offers advanced penetration testing, DevOps & Automation, and cybersecurity advice (Security Advisory As A Service). Also check hybrid multi cloud solutions
Another significant hack in the DeFi industry that Halborn audited for $31 million was the 22nd largest hack in the DeFi industry. The primary reason for the attack, according to SlowMist, was the swap contract’s failure to verify that the incoming and departing tokens in the pool were identical. By doing this, the hacker was able to take advantage of the price update feature and artificially raise the price of MONO tokens.
6. OpenZeppelin
- Number of projects accepted: No Statement
- $10B is the portfolio’s total MCAP.
- Principal customers: The Graph, Coinbase, Compound, Aave, and the Ethereum Foundation
- Ethereum supported chains
- 1 audited projects total on Rektboard
- $275K total sum rekt.
OpenZeppelin identifies as “the standard for secure blockchain applications”. A provider of cybersecurity products and services, OpenZeppelin is well-known for creating the OpenZeppelin Contracts Solidity libraries. Through OpenZeppelin’s native SDK, developers may quickly incorporate these libraries into their applications. Since 2015, the business has assisted in securing assets worth over $10 billion in some of the biggest names in the cryptocurrency industry, such as Ethereum Foundation, Coinbase, Compound, Aave, and The Graph. This is another smart contract auditing companies.
Additionally, OpenZeppelin was the first cybersecurity business to use gamification to find security holes in smart contracts. The “Ethernaut” video game by OpenZeppelin tests players’ ability to identify and take advantage of security holes in smart contracts in order to advance. The contract also offers free services like “Defender,” which assists projects in automating the administration of their smart contracts by providing a safe and private transaction architecture, allowing the creation of automated scripts, and more.
7. Trail of Bits
- 500+ projects have been onboarded (Only For Blockchain Security Audits)
- Portfolio MCAP total: over $25 billion
- Major customers include Yearn.finance, Nervos, LooksRare, Acala, and Balancer.
- Supported chains include Ethereum, Tezos, Polkadot, Arbitrum, and Polygon (view the full list here)
- 0 projects on Rektboard have been audited.
- Amount rekt in total: 0.
Trail of Bits, a leader in the cybersecurity sector that was founded in 2012, has a long list of well-known clients like Adobe, Microsoft, Stripe, Reddit, Zoom, Airbnb, etc. Software Assurance, Security Engineering, and Research and Development make up the company’s three core service offerings. The business offers security assessments for blockchain, software hardening, infrastructure security, threat modelling, and cryptographic evaluation through its Software Assurance division. The business has so far performed smart contract audits for major players in the market like yearn.finance, LooksRare, Acala, Balancer, Nervos, and others. This is another smart contract auditing companies.
The Trail of Bits team creates tools to assist researchers and developers in identifying and resolving important vulnerabilities in addition to concentrating on blockchain security. Manticore, a multi-contract and multi-transaction emulator, is one of them. Slither, Echidna, and Ethersplay are some of its additional tools. In addition to repairing vulnerabilities in software, the company offers extensive open source work, professional training programmes, and a wide library of other resources to broaden and enhance people’s expertise of reverse engineering, programme analysis, penetration testing, etc.
8. Consensys Diligence
- 100+ projects have been onboarded.
- $11B+ is the portfolio’s total MCAP.
- Key users include 0x Exchange, Aave, Balancer, and Uniswap.
- Ethereum supported chains
- 1 audited projects total on Rektboard
- Amount total rekt: $1.3M
This is another smart contract auditing companies. Contrary to the other companies on this list, Consensys focuses on creating cutting-edge blockchain software and apps for the Ethereum ecosystem. ConsenSys Diligence, the company’s flagship cybersecurity solution, is a thorough security analysis tool that is made specifically to carry out a thorough investigation of smart contracts. Projects may be sure that their Ethereum application is prepared and secure with ConsenSys Diligence. Also check app designing company
This is accomplished using a combination of smart contract auditors with experience and blockchain security analysis tools. The company has successfully secured more than 100 blockchain companies over the years and found more than 200 concerns. The company has examined a number of projects, including 0x exchange, Aave, Balancer, and Uniswap. In addition to security auditing, the company offers two other services, including Scribble, a specification language and runtime verification tool that converts high-level specifications into Solidity code, and Fuzzing, a service that enables users to find bugs right away after writing their first specification.
The Big Combo (Growth DeFi), a client of Consensys, was a victim of an error. In order to remove $1.3M in liquidity, the attacker used a bug to force the staker contract to accept a liquidity pair that contained a phoney token.
9. Kudelski Security
- 200+ projects have been onboarded.
- $230B is the portfolio’s total MCAP.
- Significant customers include Binance, Solana, Crypto.com, Input Output, Monero, and Zcash.
- Supported chains include Ethereum, Cardano, Solana, BNB Chain, and Cosmos Tendermint.
- 0 projects on Rektboard have been audited.
- Amount rekt in total: 0.
A cybersecurity company with a base in Switzerland, Kudelski Security offers cutting-edge solutions and consulting services to assist businesses increase their cyberconfidence. Kudelski has already collaborated with some of the most well-known figures in the cryptocurrency industry despite just being created two years ago. Binance, Solana, Crypto.com, Input Output, Monero, and Zcash are a some of its customers. The organisation has completed over 200 security assessments, amassed a market capitalization of over $230 billion, and examined over 500,000 lines of code to date. The company offers consultancy services, technology optimization, managed security, managed detection and response, and incident response in addition to its blockchain security services. This is another smart contract auditing companies.
10. Chain Security
- 85+ projects have been onboarded.
- Portfolio’s total MCAP is $17B.
- Important customers include Kyber network, Maker, Compound, Rarible, and Yearn.finance
- Ethereum supported chains
- 0 projects on Rektboard have been audited.
- Amount rekt in total: 0.
This is another smart contract auditing companies. Security professionals from ETH Zurich, a famous university, are in charge of ChainSecurity. The business has collaborated with more than 85 established businesses and organisations in the cryptocurrency space, such as Kyber Network, Maker, Compound, Rarible, and Yearn.finance. It has also assisted PwC Switzerland in enhancing its smart contract auditing capabilities. The corporation has so far acquired assets worth more than $17B. ChainSecurity also created an automated audit platform that gives organisations the ability to review smart contracts and safeguard their resources. The company’s platform carries out security audits by locating security flaws and confirming the functionality of blockchain and smart contract initiatives. ChainSecurity also provides automatic security evaluation of Ethereum smart contracts.
11. PeckShield
- 50+ projects have been onboarded.
- $26B+ is the portfolio’s total MCAP.
- EOS, Aave, Tron, Nervos, Harmony, Neo, Maker, OlympusDAO, and Pancakeswap are some of our top clients.
- Ethereum, BNB Chain, EOS, Tron, Harmony, and NEO are supported chains.
- 8 audited projects are listed on Rektboard.
- Rekt amount in total: $132M
A Chinese-based audit and security company called PeckShield was established in 2018. With broad backgrounds in security and numerous facets of the blockchain ecosystem, its workforce is dispersed across the globe. Following their discovery of problems like the Ethereum smart contract BatchOverflow flaw, the company started to gain attention. PeckShield is now ranked third worldwide in the Ethereum Bounty Program. The company is a pioneer in offering comprehensive security solutions for blockchain consumers, and it has audited well-known brands in the sector as Aave, EOS, Tron, and others. The company aims to offer end-to-end protection for all blockchain users through its many services, including penetration testing, threat monitoring, DAppTotal, and CoinHolmes. The business also educates the public by frequently updating its Twitter account with the most recent information on loan escapades, significant slippage events, rugs, etc. This is another smart contract auditing companies.
PeckShield has made an overall total of 8 appearances on the Rekt Leaderboard, losing more than $132M in total. Popsicle Finance, one of PeckShield’s audited protocols, was the target of a $20 million breach. By convincing a liquidity pool on Popsicle Finance that the fees owed to them were equivalent to the total TVL to the entire pool, the attacker was able to take advantage of this vulnerability. Alpha Finance (co-audited with Quantstamp), MonoX (co-audited with Halborn), Harvest Finance (co-audited with Haechi), XToken, Superfluid, and Value DeFi are a few of its other exploits.
Conclusion
Even while smart contract audits are crucial, they shouldn’t be seen as a panacea to stop all hacks. Instead, they ought to be seen as a component of a procedure that entails constant development. Developers should continue to put in the effort after an audit to make sure that the findings are handled and that the proper security procedures are implemented to reduce the likelihood of future vulnerabilities. Smart contracts still need to be tested by the developers to make sure they function as intended before users can trust them. Performing protocol-specific security testing is another requirement of this.
Following a security audit, it’s critical to maintain an active Bug Bounty programme. Instead of depending on a single security expert, Bug Bounty programmes draw security specialists from all over the world with various backgrounds and levels of competence to enhance the underlying security. Encouraging a global network of professionals to extensively examine your smart contracts for flaws means that all assets under scope are carefully examined.
It is always advised for users to choose an auditor with a strong reputation and a proven track record because having a security audit still helps to filter out any potential risks and provide a project a certain level of confidence.
