Blockchain technology is a great technological innovation. Any features built on top of blockchain are also of great interest. More specifically, smart contracts are quite popular as of right now. Fujitsu has come up with a new technology to assess any issues or risks associated with smart contracts in their current form.

Smart Contracts are Great but Risky

No one will deny the potential of smart contracts is certainly there. They allow for automating many different aspects of business models being used today. However, there are also some risks associated with this new technology. As we have seen in the past, these contracts can be manipulated by hackers if the code is not secure.

Unfortunately, most of these contracts are not audited in the slightest. That causes a big problem and concern for anyone working with this technology. Addressing such problems at an early stage is of the utmost importance. Surprisingly, it seems Fujitsu has a viable solution in this regard. The Japanese ICT company wants to address risks associated with smart contracts at an early stage.

This is a pretty positive development for the blockchain industry as a whole. With these contracts automating transactions and data sharing on blockchain platforms the potential is virtually unlimited. At the same time, addressing reliability concerns with smart contracts is not easy by any means. The new in-house developed algorithms by Fujitsu will identify risks on the Ethereum blockchain. It is unclear if other blockchain systems will be supported in the future.

A Foolproof Solution is Born?

According to Fujitsu, their new algorithms can detect 100% of the risks associated with Ethereum-based contracts. There are a few exceptions though, but those will be ironed out eventually. So far the solution’s overall accuracy is close to 88%, which is more than respectable. Improving this percentile will be a challenge, but Fujitsu is confident they can keep refining this solution. The company explained their train of thought as follows:

“Because over-identification of risk is rare, this technology will enable more efficient smart contract development, and combined with the risk location identification technology, it is also expected to reduce the workload involved in tasks such as specification comprehension, code evaluation, and fixing the code. This technology will contribute to the efficient application of blockchain technology to a wide variety of fields.”

For now, the plan is to further develop these verification technologies. Fujitsu will continue to focus on Ethereum, but Hyperledger Fabric is also of great interest. It is possible the detection algorithm will be commercialized at some point. Building a more secure blockchain and smart contract environment is a positive development for everyone. Doing so will take a lot of time and effort, though.