The Ethereum Foundation is prioritizing the ecosystem's most pressing concern: security. On Tuesday, it announced a new program to address the high cost of security audits for smart contracts.
The 'Audit Subsidy Program' collaborates with top audit providers and ecosystem firms to make professional security reviews more affordable for developers. With a $1 million subsidy fund, the program aims to remove financial obstacles that have prevented many teams from conducting thorough audits, despite their importance in the industry.
This initiative is part of the foundation's Trillion Dollar Security Initiative, which focuses on bolstering Ethereum's security as it expands to support more complex applications and larger on-chain values. The program has partnered with firms like Nethermind, Chainlink Labs, and Areta, connecting developers with over 20 reputable audit firms to simplify access to trusted security expertise. Alongside the program's launch, the foundation introduced the 'CROPS principles' framework, which stands for censorship resistance, open source, privacy, and security.
This framework will guide the development and evaluation of applications across the Ethereum ecosystem. Developers can submit their projects for review, and a committee of experts will select teams to receive subsidies that can be used for audit services through Areta's platform. The program is open to all Ethereum mainnet developers, regardless of project size or stage. According to the foundation, 'the subsidy program makes audits accessible and strengthens the Ethereum ecosystem.'