Introducing ConsenSys Diligence

Raising the bar for security best practices in the Ethereum ecosystem

The Ethereum blockchain is skyrocketing in popularity. Last month, Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures predicted that the market cap of Ethereum will surpass Bitcoin’s in 2017, and The New York Times’ Dealbook seems to agree with him. In addition to increasing awareness of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and capabilities of smart contracts on the Ethereum platform, token launches are attracting higher and higher amounts of money. Developers want to capitalize on this movement by getting their tokens out as quickly as possible, and they feel immense pressure to quickly write and deploy contracts.



The paradoxical outcome is that the stakes are higher, but people are becoming less cautious.



Let’s not forget the lessons learned from ‘The DAO’. In the wake of the June 2016 exploit, developers turned their attention toward security and best practices for smart contract development. And yet, it seems that as time passes, the painful memory of The DAO is beginning to fade.



To usher in the new era of decentralized innovation, we need people to participate in the ecosystem — a lot of people. And we need their optimism to work for them, not against them. We need the community to help each other and watch out for each other. That’s why we created ConsenSys Diligence.

ConsenSys Diligence: Raising the bar for security best practices in the Ethereum ecosystem

ConsenSys Diligence is committed to improving the Ethereum ecosystem by promoting technical excellence, security best practices, legal precautions, and ethical business practices.



Currently we are working with specific high-impact projects as they prepare to deploy their contract systems. We encourage projects to launch when ready, rather than trying to time markets. Our criteria for readiness extends beyond a basic code review, to include requirements for specifications, test drivers, static analysis, and staged roll outs.



This approach is informed by our experience working with clients like Gnosis, WeiFund, SingularDTV, uPort, and adChain. ConsenSys Diligence is also actively involved in writing and reviewing code deployed in production systems on private chains at some of the largest Fortune 500 companies in the world.



In the future, we plan to expand these services to include assessment of legal structures and business cases. We’ll look beyond the white paper, into the fundamentals of the business plan, team, and code behind a project.



As a part of ConsenSys, our incentives are aligned with the long-term health of the ecosystem rather than short-term revenue. The ecosystem will always be our priority — over potential clients, business practices, and revenues. When there is a conflict between what a client desires and what’s good for the ecosystem, we side with the ecosystem. When we discover code or actions that are not improving the ecosystem and community, our priority is to inform the community about them.

Want to work with us?

Projects:

Were looking to work with clients who:

Display a long-term planning horizon and vision

Are willing to prioritize readiness over a sense of urgency

Have a project with potential to make a significant impact on the ecosystem

Have a history of contributions to the community

If this sounds like you, please feel free to reach out to us at diligence@consensys.net.

Prospective Teammates:

We are also looking to expand our team. If you have deep knowledge about Solidity and the Ethereum Virtual Machine, a passion for security, and the self-motivation to work on what you think is most valuable to the ecosystem, we’d love to meet you.



For all developers interested in the conversation, please stop by the Smart Contract Best Practices Gitter channel.

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