Developers of Ethereum (ETH) have rolled out a fresh smart contract standard, ERC-7512, with an objective to boost transparency and improve access to smart contract audits within the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
Richard Meissner, co-founder of Safe, unveiled this proposal on the Ethereum Magicians forum earlier this month, igniting a robust exchange of ideas and perspectives among the developer community.
Several renowned names in the blockchain development sector have also chimed in on the proposal. Noteworthy contributors include personnel from OtterSec, ChainSecurity, OpenZeppelin, Ackee Blockchain, and Hats Finance.
ERC-7512 seeks to provide an on-chain depiction of audit reports that contracts can interpret. This would allow users to glean vital details about the conducted audits, including the identities of the auditors and the standards they adhered to.
As detailed by the authors, “The intention behind this proposal is to formulate a standard that facilitates an on-chain portrayal of audit reports. This portrayal would be readable by contracts and would present users with pertinent audit details, such as the identity of the auditing party and the standards that were upheld.”
They further emphasized, “Ensuring robust security and promoting optimal composability necessitates the on-chain verification of a contract’s audit status.”
Developers Discuss Implementing ERC-7512
The proposal has garnered significant backing from the community. However, its implementation remains a topic of intricate debate among developers.
Dexara, the mind behind Callisto Network, proposed a deviation from the current path. Instead of ushering in a new Ethereum standard, he advocated for a registry method that would categorize audits using non-transferable Soulbound Tokens. He opined, “While the notion of on-chain audits holds merit, the execution outlined in this ERC seems to be unduly intricate.”
In retaliation, Meissner posited that the proposed ERC could operate in tandem with a registry. He also emphasized the potential pitfalls of leaning too heavily on a centralized approach.
Shay Zluf emphasized that the core intent behind ERC-7512 is to bring uniformity to the signatures auditors make, rather than laying out the blueprint for the registry itself.
“The essence of this ERC is to set a standard for what should bear an auditor’s signature, as opposed to detailing the registry’s design. The endgame is to facilitate reliable verification throughout the ecosystem,” Zluf stated.
Meissner went on to underscore that, although security audits are indispensable, they don’t stand as absolute assurance against vulnerabilities in code for various protocols.
To illustrate this, he pointed to the recent release of BANANA, the native token for a Telegram trading bot. Not long after its launch, a glitch surfaced in its smart contract. This was unexpected, especially since the team behind the bot had publicized that the contract had passed through two separate audit processes.
Intriguingly, punk9059, a Twitter user, decided to feed the BANANA code into the AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, which promptly flagged the underlying issue.
Ethereum Devs Delay Launch of Holesky Testnet
Recently, Ethereum’s planned rollout of the eagerly awaited Holesky testnet hit a snag, necessitating its postponement. The hiccup arose from an inconsistency in parameters, preventing the testnet from functioning as anticipated.
The Ethereum client group, Nethermind, commented on the delay, projecting that a fresh attempt to launch could be scheduled within a week. This implied that the Holesky testnet might be operational by this upcoming Friday.
However, there’s a divergence in opinion regarding the timeline. Barnabus Busa, an Ethereum Foundation DevOps engineer, took to GitHub with a pull request, suggesting a rescheduled launch for September 28.
Paritosh, another DevOps engineer from the Ethereum foundation, remarked, “It’s highly probable that we’ll reboot the network, incorporating new genesis files, and aim to have the testnet running approximately two weeks from the present day.”
