Description du projet
Un accord sous la forme d’un code informatique
Écrits dans un code ressemblant à un langage de programmation afin que leur interprétation soit toujours sans ambiguïté et ne fasse jamais l’objet d’un litige, les contrats dits «intelligents», l’équivalent informatique des contrats juridiques, peuvent être facilement interprétés par des machines. Le projet PROCONTRA, financé par l’UE, se concentrera sur l’interaction entre les contrats intelligents et la cryptographie. Son objectif est de faire de ce domaine émergent une science mature et de créer une théorie formelle des protocoles. La conception d’un modèle de sécurité complet pour l’analyse des contrats intelligents constitue le premier pilier du projet. Le deuxième pilier consiste à proposer de nouveaux protocoles de contrats intelligents et à étendre les protocoles existants. Globalement, PROCONTRA visera à déterminer les tâches qu’il est possible de réaliser avec les contrats intelligents et sous quelles hypothèses cela peut être accompli.
Objectif
Smart contracts are formal agreements that take the form of computer programs. They are typically written down, and automatically executed, on blockchains. Smart-contract protocols are algorithms that describe how these contracts operate in multiparty settings. Due to the large number of potential applications, interest in this field has exploded in the last few years. Also, the PI has generated important results through his work in this area. The ambitious goal of PROCONTRA is to transfigure this emerging field into a mature science. Our main research hypothesis is that smart-contract protocols will be used in real life and many of them will strongly rely on advanced cryptographic techniques and will need to be developed using modeling methods from theoretical cryptography.
We will work in this direction by proposing new solutions in this area, providing formal models and security proofs. Given the importance of these protocols, it is crucial to fully analyze their security before they are deployed in real life. Therefore, the first pillar of this project is to design a complete security model for analyzing them. The second pillar is to propose new smart-contract protocols and to extend the existing ones. Our protocols will be proven secure in the model we propose in the first pillar. This will be done using traditional “pen-and-paper” methods. However, the most important proofs will also be machine-checked using proof assistants. On a more theoretical side, we will also work on characterizing what tasks are in general achievable using smart contracts, and under what assumptions. Throughout the project, we will closely interact with the smart-contract practitioners, and with the industry, in order to understand what are the practically-relevant problems in this field and to ensure that the project’s outcome will have an impact beyond academia. This will also take a form of participation in the standardization efforts in this area.
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Programme(s)
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Régime de financement
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantInstitution d’accueil
00-927 WARSZAWA
Pologne