STM Journals Peer-reviewed research from Consortium e-Learning Network

Journal of Open Source Developments Review Article

Smart Contract: A new buzz word for reliable decentralized network

  1. Shyamsunder Manaktala Department of ECE, JECRC (Jaipur Engineering College and Research Centre), University
  2. Rakesh Saxena Faculty of Computer Engineering, Poornima University
  3. Deepak Sankhla Department of ECE, JECRC (Jaipur Engineering College and Research Centre), University
  4. Aashish Kumar Sharma Department of ECE, JECRC (Jaipur Engineering College and Research Centre), University
  5. Rakesh Kumar Kardam Department of ECE, JECRC (Jaipur Engineering College and Research Centre), University

Abstract

Blockchain technology has emerged as a foundational distributed-ledger architecture enabling decentralized, transparent, and tamper-resistant data management across diverse digital ecosystems. This paper presents an integrated review of blockchain fundamentals, consensus mechanisms, smart contract design, and real-world applications beyond cryptocurrencies. It discusses the evolution of smart contracts as automated, self-executing programs that remove intermediaries and ensure deterministic execution, while highlighting critical security vulnerabilities such as reentrancy, arithmetic overflows, and improper access control. This paper judges the need for organized audits, verifies prominent open-source analysis tools—including Slither, Mythril, Securify, and Oyente—and outlines a structured auditing workflow combining static, dynamic, and formal verification techniques. Also evaluates Broader industry challenges such as scalability constraints, interoperability gaps, regulatory uncertainty, and the emerging quantum- computing threat are analyzed to assess the long-term viability of blockchain systems. The study concludes with future research directions emphasising post-quantum cryptography, cross-chain frameworks, advanced consensus models, and integration of blockchain with AI and IoT to build resilient next- generation decentralised infrastructures.

Keywords

References (25)

  1. Nakamoto S, Bitcoin A. A peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Bitcoin.–URL: https://bitcoin.
  2. org/bitcoin. pdf. 2008 Jan 1;4(2):15.
  3. Buterin V. Ethereum white paper. GitHub repository. 2013 Jan;1(22-23):5-7.
  4. Crosby M, Pattanayak P, Verma S, Kalyanaraman V. Blockchain technology: Beyond bitcoin.
  5. Applied innovation. 2016 Jun;2(6-10):71.
  6. Luu L, Chu DH, Olickel H, Saxena P, Hobor A. Making smart contracts smarter. InProceedings
  7. of the 2016 ACM SIGSAC conference on computer and communications security 2016 Oct 24
  8. (pp. 254-269).
  9. Atzei N, Bartoletti M, Cimoli T. A survey of attacks on ethereum smart contracts (sok).
  10. InInternational conference on principles of security and trust 2017 Mar 28 (pp. 164-186).
  11. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
  12. Yaish A, Stern G, Zohar A. Uncle maker:(time) stamping out the competition in ethereum.
  13. InProceedings of the 2023 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications
  14. Security 2023 Nov 15 (pp. 135-149).
  15. Gamage HT, Weerasinghe HD, Dias NG. A survey on blockchain technology concepts,
  16. applications, and issues. SN Computer Science. 2020 Mar;1(2):114.
  17. Wang X, He J, Xie Z, Zhao G, Cheung SC. ContractGuard: Defend ethereum smart contracts
  18. with embedded intrusion detection. IEEE Transactions on Services Computing. 2019 Oct
  19. 25;13(2):314-28.
  20. Tsankov P, Dan A, Drachsler-Cohen D, Gervais A, Buenzli F, Vechev M. Securify: Practical
  21. security analysis of smart contracts. InProceedings of the 2018 ACM SIGSAC conference on
  22. computer and communications security 2018 Oct 15 (pp. 67-82).
  23. Sidhu J. Syscoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system with blockchain-based services for e-
  24. business. In2017 26th international conference on computer communication and networks
  25. (ICCCN) 2017 Jul 31 (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Support