We’re excited to be nearing the finish line on releasing new updates to the Quantstamp Security Protocol, but that’s not all. We also attended NY Blockchain Week, are publishing a book, are teaching a blockchain development course, and much more. Read on to find out what's been going on this month at Quantstamp:
Decentralizing the Quantstamp Security Network
We’ve been working hard to release new updates to the Quantstamp Security Protocol, and we’re nearing the finish line. These updates will include a user interface which makes it easier than ever to scan smart contracts for security vulnerabilities. In addition, the network will be decentralized. Now anyone who stakes 50,000 QSP and meets the requirements to operate a node can help the network and potentially earn QSP through contributing to scanning.
In the next few weeks, we are reaching out to existing node operators as well as select members of our community to allow them to onboard to the new network. If you are interested in being part of this alpha-test, feel free to read our alpha-test node operator manual and setup a node.
What is a Smart Contract Audit?
As more and more blockchain applications are moving from planning to deployment, security is becoming more and more important. With traditional software, a bug usually just means a poor user experience. Blockchain applications often directly control financial assets or are in charge of mission-critical data, meaning, even a single bug can have devastating consequences.
At Quantstamp we’ve audited over $800 million worth of smart contracts. In this post, Research Engineer Nadir Akhtar explains what goes into a smart contract audit and why we need them.
Edgeware Audit
Quantstamp recently audited Edgeware, the first smart contract platform planning to integrate with Polkadot, a blockchain interoperability platform. Built as a parachain of Polkadot, Edgeware is a WebAssembly (Wasm) runtime, high-performance, self-upgrading smart contract platform with on-chain governance.
We’re proud to audit projects like Edgeware which aim to address key issues facing blockchain technology today - scalability and interoperability.
For more information about our audit process, or to get an expert smart contract audit from us, visit our audit page.
Tackling Corruption in Colombia
We are happy to help the World Economic Forum(WEF) tackle corruption in Colombia. The OECD estimates that 10% of the government’s yearly budget is lost to corruption. We are working with the WEF to target the issue by helping build a blockchain solution that provides transparency into school meal procurement processes.
Read more about the multi-faceted project on the WEF website.
Asian Leadership Conference
This month, Quantstamp CEO Richard Ma spoke on how blockchain technology can help with data privacy at the Asian Leadership Conference. Founded in 2005, the Asian Leadership Conference is an annual conference where global leaders discuss possible solutions for the pressing issues facing society today. Other speakers this year included Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger, and former US House speaker Paul Ryan.
Meet the Authors - Fundamentals of Smart Contract Security
Set to be published this summer, Fundamentals of Smart Contract Security will cover how blockchains function, design choices for smart contract development, common vulnerabilities, and best practices for writing smart contracts. This month we published articles on three of the five authors of the book. Read more about our VP of Strategy Olga Mack, Senior Research Engineer Kacper Bak, and Ph.D. Candidate Jan Gorzny.
Want to be the first to know when the book is released? Get on our list.
Thank You Steven
Our co-founder, Steven Stewart, is transitioning to a Technical Fellow role. As a Technical Fellow, Steven will continue to work with Quantstamp on research-related tasks while having time for other goals as well. We want to thank Steven for his many achievements including building a stellar team and graduating from Y Combinator. Steven transitions from his roles as CTO and Board Director to Technical Fellow as of May 31, 2019, as Quantstamp completes the launch of the Quantstamp Distributed Security Network V2.
Steven met many of the current Quantstamp engineers at the University of Waterloo when they were just graduate students. Steven is proud to have recruited an outstanding team from his alma mater that later went on to solve difficult challenges in distributed computing. In the early days of our company, the Quantstamp team developed a minimum viable product of the Security Network Protocol for Y Combinator’s Demo Day within 90 days and, more recently, they released the groundbreaking 2nd iteration of the Security Network to the Ethereum mainnet.
We also want to recognize Steven for facilitating the success of a decentralized team. Running a distributed team is not easy. It takes a special type of leader to make a decentralized team work efficiently together. Quantstamp has staff members located in Taiwan, Japan, the United States, Canada, Spain and Germany. Steven helped to leverage the talent of our team members throughout the world. Going forward, we have a very strong technical leadership team driving the technical side of the company, including senior leaders Dr. Kacper Bak, Dr. Martin Derka, Dr. Leonardo Passos, Alex Murashkin and Dr. Sebastian Banescu.
Steven’s first project as Technical Fellow will be to create a draft of the new Yellowpaper and work closer with our university partners at Waterloo. Thank you Steven. We look forward to your next chapter in this company.
(revised 6/11/2019)
Blockchain Application Programming Course
Blockchain researcher Jan recording an upcoming webinar on zk-SNARKS with Blockgeeks
We’ve teamed up with Blockgeeks to provide a course on writing secure smart contracts. Instructors include our Senior Research Engineer Martin Derka as well as Blockchain Engineer Jan Gorzny. Find out more about the course here. We will also recorded a webinar on zk-SNARKS which will be released soon.
Silicon Valley Agtech Conference
Blockchain is much more than just FinTech. Linda Selker, our Head of Legal and an experienced engineer in her own right, spoke at the Silicon Valley AgTech conference on how blockchain and IoT can enhance automation of food supply traceability.
NY Blockchain Week
We had a strong presence at New York Blockchain Week, co-hosting several events with CryptoKitties, Kadena, Republic, Fluence, and more. Besides Consensus itself, we also attended Ethereal, EthNY, and the Rare Arts Festival. It was a pleasure catch-up with colleagues, hang out with old friends and meet many new ones.
San Jose State University Entrepreneurship Lab
We had a great time hosting the Entrepreneur Lab from San Jose State University’s business school. Quantstamp Co-founder Steven Stewart talked with the students about the challenges startups face and the learnings we picked up along the way.
Decrypt Tokyo
From June 8th to 9th, we will be hosting Decrypt Tokyo, a 2-day blockchain hackathon which will be held in Japan’s capital. Sponsored by blockchain startups including Quantstamp as well as enterprises, Decrypt Tokyo will bring together 100-150 participants who are passionate about learning blockchain technology. Find out more on the official website.
Interested in working for us?
We are hiring for a variety of positions globally. Check out our careers page.
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Note: This update includes information and forward-looking statements about upcoming events and concepts under continuing development. Schedules, features, and functionality are subject to change or cancellation at any time, external dependencies, evolving regulatory frameworks, and/or factors beyond our control and you are not to place undue reliance on this information or any forward-looking statements. FOR AVOIDANCE OF DOUBT, THIS CONTENT, INCLUDING ANY ASSOCIATED SERVICES OR MATERIALS, SHALL NOT BE CONSIDERED OR RELIED UPON AS ANY FORM OF FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, TAX, LEGAL, REGULATORY, OR OTHER ADVICE.
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