The Rising Market of Crypto Audit Companies

With the widespread acceptance of cryptocurrencies, the crypto audit companies’ sector is also expanding. Now that hacking incidents are on the rise; security has become even more crucial in the crypto domain. A component of blockchains requiring auditing are smart contract audits. But, what exactly is a smart contract audit?

A smart contract audit is a method for examining the code of a smart contract that interacts with the blockchain or cryptocurrency. This procedure is very important, and it is used to find bugs, problems, and security holes in the code so that they can be fixed. Doing so protects the code from potential flaws in the future and gives the safety that potential users need.

How Much Does A Crypto Audit Cost?

Depending on the complexity of the code, crypto contract auditing companies often charge up to $15,000. Although, the price may be higher in some circumstances. The auditing company creates a report detailing the potential faults of the code and offers additional suggestions to increase security.

Experts also examine contract dynamics to understand how they reflect on current security trends. A crypto audit costs a lot because reviewing the code row by row takes a lot of time and effort.

While high costs may dissuade some crypto firms from conducting an audit, it’s necessary to do one and find out if there are changes needed in the code. Failing to address issues and bugs from the start, could lead to substantially higher costs later on, and possible security issues.

What’s The Process of Performing a Smart Contract Audit by The Crypto Audit Companies?

A smart contract audit service checks for known vulnerabilities relevant to each smart contract’s specific business logic. It also determines whether the smart contract complies with the Solidity Code Style Guide and confirms that it is free of logical and access control issues.

The requirements for smart contract security audits differ amongst projects. Smart contract auditors use both manual and automatic techniques for the process.

Manual Auditing

A team of experts manually examines each line of code to check for compilation and re-entry issues. This can help spot additional security loopholes that are frequently missed, such as bad encryption techniques.

This is the most accurate method as it tracks down hidden defects, such as difficulties in design, instead of typical coding bugs.

Automated Auditing

This method of auditing uses bug detection software to help auditors identify the precise area where problems are present.

Automated techniques are frequently used for projects that plan to launch soon because it helps uncover vulnerabilities quickly. When checking code, automated software may only comprehend the context, overlooking other vulnerabilities in some cases. That’s why solely relying on such testing is risky.

The team from Mainstream Cryptos advises all crypto projects to not overlook this process and hire a company that can do both types of testing.

What Does A Good Crypto Audit Include?

Smart contracts allow the facilitation and verification of financial transactions and tracking of the movement of both physical and intellectual property.

Security and consistency are essential for smart contracts because they have the power to distribute precious resources among complex systems and are mostly autonomous.

Therefore, for smart contract security, it’s crucial to assess the possibility and seriousness of potential contract faults and discovered errors. That’s where a smart contract security audit comes in to safeguard the funds transferred through them.

Due to the irreversible nature of all blockchain transactions, money that has been stolen cannot be recovered.

To help developers quickly find loopholes and defects before implementing smart contracts, the smart contract audit focuses on looking at the code that supports the terms and conditions of the contract.

How Long Does A Crypto Audit Take?

The initial audit process can take two to fourteen days (sometimes even longer than that). The length of the process depends on the project, its size, the number of contracts, and how urgently it needs to be completed.

The audit may take up to a month for complicated projects or protocols. After the initial audit, the client is given recommendations for adopting fixes. The next step is a remediation check, which typically lasts up to a few days.

Best Crypto Audit Companies

The following list includes some of the best crypto audit companies in the market.

CertiK

Source: Screenshot from CertiK’s Official Website

Projects Audited: 1800+

Supported Chains: All chains

Collaborating with some of the most significant cybersecurity professionals in the world, CertiK is a blockchain security firm specializing in AI technology and formal verification to develop end-to-end audit services.

The business has created “CertiK Chain,” a public blockchain to formally and manually verify the security of smart contracts using mathematics. Skynet, penetration testing, and Skytrace are some of CertiK‘s other services.

Various well-known companies such as Golden Sachs, Lightspeed, Coinbase, DHVC, and Matrix Partners have funded Certik, and it is an official partner of Binance.

SlowMist

Source: Screenshot from SlowMist’s Official Website

Projects Audited: 1000+

Supported Chains: EVM Chains, Ethereum, EOS, Fabric, VeChain, Solana, ONT

SlowMist was established in 2018 and is one of China’s top blockchain security businesses. The SlowMist team has over ten years of network security expertise, particularly in blockchain security, smart contract audits, and other areas.

Through its Blockchain Threat Intelligence service (BTI), the organization continuously monitors and publishes data concerning the security status of cryptocurrency exchanges.

Their most well-known system, “MistTrack,” monitors the transfer of stolen money. It has helped companies recover nearly $1 billion in stolen money since its launch.

Also, the business sells security-related goods such as anti-money laundering software, DarkHandBook, a crypto safeguarding handbook, SlowMist Hacked, a library of crypto hacks, and FireWall.

Hacken

Source: Screenshot from Hacken’s Official Website

Projects Audited: 700+

Supported Chains: EVM Chains, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Solana, Polygon, NEAR, Avalanche, Fantom.

Hacken specializes in cybersecurity and is a leading blockchain consultancy firm. Hacken has been training and expanding the ethical white hat hacker community since 2017 to grow and improve the blockchain security system.

Who could be better to address cybersecurity threats than a company that has been training hackers since its inception?

Hacken offers a wide range of security services, such as consultation on blockchain security, vulnerability analyses, bug bounty program management, web/mobile penetration testing, and more.

The firm also offers security tools like the hVPN, hPass, and HackenAI Security Platforms. Hacken has also collaborated with major non-blockchain companies like Air Asia.

For this reason, Hacken is recognized as a Web 3.0 security standard by the world’s two giant cryptocurrency data aggregators, Coingecko and Coinmarketcap.

Over the years, Hacken has earned quite a reputation as a security risk assessment. ‘It’s a great choice for businesses in need of a digital environment to develop or enable customer services.

Trail of Bits

Source: Screenshot from Trail of Bits’ Official Website

Projects Audited: 500+

Supported Chains: Polkadot, Tezos, Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum

Trail of Bits is a leader in the cybersecurity sector and has a lengthy list of prestigious customers, including Microsoft, Reddit, Adobe, Airbnb, and Zoom.

Trail of Bits was established in 2012, long before crypto contracts were even a thing. The company takes pride in being a network of developers and can detect and resolve bugs and loopholes in programs.

They have tools to discover and correct serious vulnerabilities. Manticore is one of their trademark technologies and is an emulator for multiple contracts and transactions. Some of their other tools include Cryptic, Echidna, and Slither, which focus on blockchain technology.

Quantstamp 

Source: Screenshot from Quantstamp’s Official Website

Projects Audited: 200+

Supported Chains: All chains.

It is one of the most well-known auditing firms in the blockchain industry. Quantstamp is a security validation protocol for crypto contracts. Their security team involves security experts with PhDs and prior experience at prestigious IT firms, including Google, Apple, Facebook, and the Ethereum Foundation.

Quantstamp specializes in auditing all programming languages created for blockchain-based applications. Quantstamp has certified more than 200 projects since it launched in 2017 and has assisted in securing a value worth of more than $200 billion.

It provides services for auditing blockchain layer-1, establishing financial frameworks for layer-1 blockchain ecosystems, and enabling NFT and Decentralized Financeprotocols using smart contracts.

OpenZeppelin

Source: Screenshot from OpenZeppelin’s Official Website

Projects Audited: 150+

Supported Chain: Ethereum

OpenZeppelin is a well-known crypto auditing company for creating Solidity libraries referred to as “OpenZeppelin Contracts”; it is also a provider of cybersecurity products and services. Most Solidity applications use these libraries as a tried-and-true model for contracts that can be deployed on DApps.

Through OpenZeppelin’s native SDK, developers may easily include these technologies in their projects. OpenZeppelin reinvented blockchain security and is the first cybersecurity firm to use gamification to detect security flaws in smart contracts.

To advance to the next level of the web3 war game “Ethernaut,” players must identify and take advantage of smart contract weaknesses. Furthermore, the business offers clients free services like “Defender,” which automates smart contract administration and provides a more private and secure transaction infrastructure.

Runtime Verification

Source: Screenshot from Runtime Verification’s Official Website

Projects Audited: 100+

Supported Chains: All chains

Runtime Verification is a crypto auditing organization developing and researching verification-based methods to conduct security audits on smart contracts on open blockchains and virtual machines.

The platform has a dynamic method for software analysis that examines programs as they run, watching the outcomes of the execution and using those outcomes to identify problems. This approach creates standard models for high-value applications and utilizes them as models to create security-sensitive products.

There are two main smart contract security tools that Runtime Verification has developed. The first tool, K Semantic Framework, provides proof of correctness for smart contracts on Ethereum and Cardano.

The second, Firefly, is an Ethereum smart contract audit test coverage analysis tool. The business and the Ethereum Foundation also collaborated on developing a formal testing framework for Ethereum 2.0.

ConsenSys Diligence

Source: Screenshot from ConsenSys’ Official Website

Projects Audited: 100+

Supported Chain: Ethereum

ConsenSys is one of the market’s biggest and most well-known blockchain incubators. It is based in the US and provides blockchain technology solutions.

ConsenSys devotes all its resources and technological know-how to creating Ethereum smart contract audit blockchain software and applications.

In contrast to other security companies featured on this list, ConsenSys mainly focuses on financial infrastructure.

MythX is the flagship product of ConsenSys, one of the most powerful automated scanners for Ethereum smart contract audit. It offers a reliable API that developers can utilize to access security analytics tools.

ConsenSys has successfully safeguarded more than 100 Ethereum-based projects over time by finding over 200 flaws.

In addition to security auditing, the company also offers Scribble, a runtime verification tool to convert high-level specifications into Solidity code. Another service the company provides is Fuzzing, a bug-finding tool for initial specifications.

Least Authority

Source: Screenshot from LeastAuthority’s Official Website

Projects Audited: 80+

Supported Chains: Chia Network, Ethereum, Tezos

It is a cybersecurity consulting company with a strong emphasis on privacy. It describes itself as an enabler of private and disruptive storage solutions using privacy-enhancing technologies. The two main items available on the platform make up storage architecture.

The first product is Private storage, formerly known as S4, a centralized system that gives end users access to storage infrastructure. It gives them control over the gathering, handling, and distributing of their private data.

The second product is Tahoe LAFS, allowing a distributed, decentralized, and fault-tolerant storage facility. Other than security audits, the services involve network and traffic analysis, penetration testing, and mechanism and incentive design.

The company has experts who work closely with developers at every stage to ensure their projects are secure.

ChainSecurity

Source: Screenshot from ChainSecurity’s Official Website

Projects Audited: 85+

Supported Chain: Ethereum

ChainSecurity is a blockchain audit company run by professionals from the well-known ETH Zurich institution. The business focuses on Ethereum smart contract audit, much like ConsenSys. They have created a platform for automatic audits that enables projects to thoroughly examine smart contract designs. It also evaluates their viability and keeps track of KPIs describing their post-launch performances.

The business has secured more than $17 billion worth of assets while working with more than 85 Ethereum-based projects.

Other Crypto Audit Companies

Several other crypto audit companies provide safe and secure contract auditing services. Check them below:

Veracity Security

Veracity Security is a fresh, new crypto auditing alternative in the Decentralized Finance space. Many auditing firms use automated scanners and only investigate surface-level problems with code, generally refusing to dig deeper.

Veracity was built by a team of strong developers from the Decentralized space; builders who have been here since the start.

Veracity uses no automated scanners; everything is done by hand and eye by the team. Veracity also offers code improvements and feedback as well as optimizations as part of the package.

Veracity charges competitive rates on a quote-by-quote basis and currently covers all EVM chains!

Certora

Certora is a crypto audit company that offers formal verification services. It has a Certora prover tool, an effective tool for executing formal verification.

The organization has also collaborated with famous DeF platforms, SushiSwap and Aave. Certora is also involved in sponsoring education events for the community and working with the Bootcamp of Secureum auditor.

Halborn

Rob Behnke and Steven Walbroehl, two well-known ethical hackers, created Halborn in 2019. The crypto auditing company now employs over 80 highly qualified security engineers. Halborn specializes in identifying security flaws and application design problems when evaluating and testing blockchain applications. 

They test the smart contract application manually and automatically to ensure it’s ready for the mainnet. The company specializes in protocols like Algorand, Substrate, CosmWasm, Cosmos Tendermint, and Terra. BlockFi, Avalanche, ApeCoin, Polygon, and THORChainare some of its customers.

The company also offers advanced penetration testing, DevOps & Automation, cybersecurity advice, and smart contract audits.

Another significant hack in the DeFi industry that Halborn audited for $31 million was the 22nd largest hack in the DeFi industry. SlowMist stated the primary reason for the attack was a failure in the swap contract to verify that the incoming and departing tokens in the pool were identical.

By doing so, the hacker took advantage of the price update feature and artificially raised the price of MONO tokens.

Kudelski Security

Kudelski is a cybersecurity company based in Switzerland that offers cutting-edge solutions and consulting services to assist businesses in building their cybersecurity defenses.

Kudelski has already collaborated with some of the most well-known figures in the cryptocurrency industry despite launching just two years ago.

Binance, Crypto.com, Solana, Input Output, Zcash, and Monero are some of their customers. The organization has completed over 200 security assessments and secured over $230 billion in market capitalization.

It has examined over 500,000 lines of code to date. The business offers consultancy services, technology optimization, detection and response, and incident response, in addition to its blockchain security services.

QuillAudits

QuillAudits launched recently and is an auditing platform for smart contracts such as dApps, tokens, and Decentralized Finance. It provides a final report and has features for manual code reviews and automated testing for crypto wallets and smart contracts.

Chainsulting

Chainsulting is a security auditing firm that has been in business since 2017 with software development and consulting services. Chainsulting’s headquarters are based in Australia and Germany. It has performed code audits for leading blockchains in the market, such as Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum, Solana, DAI, Algorand, Unicrypt, 1Inch, POA Network, and other top Decentralized Finance projects.

SolidProof

This German crypto audit organization evaluates blockchain applications and smart contracts using manual and automated test procedures.

To conduct know-your-customer checks, SolidProof focuses on customers’ identities, the nature of their transactions, the origins of their finances, and any potential hazards. It has carried out hundreds of KYC and smart contract audits.

PeckShield

This Chinese audit and security company, founded in 2018, has examined several protocols, including Aave, Tron, EOS, OlympusDAO, and PancakeSwap.

In addition, they appeared on the Rekt leaderboard several times. Popsicle Finance, XToken, Value DeFi, Alpha Finance (co-audited with Quantstamp), Superfluid, MonoX (Co-audited with Halborn), and Harvest Finance (co-audited with Haechi) are some of the companies involved in its projects.

Bottom Line

Hacks and exploits are common in the cryptocurrency sector. These frauds may cost companies and individuals millions or even billions of dollars. However, as the blockchain market continues to grow exponentially and more people enter the market, crypto businesses should become more cautious and proactively use audit firms.

Our team believes that being proactive is very important for the long-term success of all companies in the industry. Without proper foundations like secured smart contracts, no crypto marketing matters.