Smart Contract Audits: Process, Costs & Support

Security is a top priority on Xion Mainnet, and auditing your smart contract is a recommended step before submitting it for governance approval. This ensures that only secure, reliable, and battle-tested contracts are deployed on-chain, protecting users and the ecosystem.

Why Are Audits Required?

Audits are essential in smart contract development to enhance security, credibility, and compliance. They help identify and mitigate vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers, ensuring the contract is robust and secure.

The community is also more likely to approve audited contracts, increasing their chances of adoption in the XION ecosystem. Additionally, well-audited contracts build trust among users and developers, encouraging wider adoption. Finally, audits help ensure that the contract adheres to security standards and best practices, reducing risks and improving overall reliability.

The Smart Contract Audit Process

The audit process typically follows these key stages to ensure security and reliability:

Preliminary Self-Review

• Use battle-tested contracts instead of writing everything from scratch.

• Conduct internal testing to check for basic logic errors.

• Use static analysis tools to scan for vulnerabilities.

Code Review & Community Feedback

• Share your contract with the Xion developer community for informal peer review.

• Deploy and test on Xion Testnet to refine performance and security.

• Get feedback from experienced developers before seeking a professional audit.

Professional Audit

• Choose an experienced smart contract auditing firm.

• Provide documentation, unit tests, and expected behaviours for better review.

• Fix any security issues found and get a re-audit if necessary.

How Much Does a Smart Contract Audit Cost?

The cost of a smart contract audit depends on several factors, including the complexity, length, and urgency of the contract(s). More intricate contracts with advanced functionality typically require more extensive reviews, increasing the overall cost.

Tip: Using pre-audited contracts can significantly reduce the amount of new code that needs to be reviewed, helping to lower audit expenses.

Tip: Using pre-audited contracts can significantly reduce the amount of new code that needs to be reviewed, helping to lower audit expenses.

For a more detailed breakdown of smart contract audit costs, best practices, and security considerations, refer to this article by ULAM, which served as the basis for these price estimates. Based on the article the following could be an estimate:

Contract Complexity	Estimated Cost
Basic Contracts	$10,000 – $15,000
Mid-Tier Projects	$20,000 – $50,000
Complex Protocols	$75,000–$150,000+

Trusted Smart Contract Auditing Firms

Here are some well known firms specializing in CosmWasm and blockchain security audits:

• Oak Security – Extensive experience in Cosmos-based smart contracts.
• Halborn – Focuses on DeFi security, used by major blockchain projects.
• CertiK – Industry leader in smart contract security audits.
• Informal Systems – Cosmos-native auditing and formal verification.

Before choosing a firm, consider:

• Their experience with CosmWasm contract audits

• Audit pricing & turnaround time

• Reputation & past audits

How the Xion Foundation Can Help

Building secure, scalable, and innovative projects on Xion shouldn’t be a solo journey. The Xion Foundation is committed to empowering developers at every stage by providing resources, funding, and expert support to streamline development and ensure best in class security.

Here’s how we help turn your vision into a secure, production ready reality:

Connecting Developers with Auditors

We help match teams with reputable auditors who specialize in CosmWasm and Xion.

Covering Partial Audit Costs

For projects that align with Xion’s ecosystem goals, grants or funding assistance may be available to subsidize audit costs.

Pre-Audited Contracts Repository

We maintain a list of already audited contracts deployed on XION so developers can use secured code instead of writing everything from scratch.

Technical Guidance & Review

Developers can get pre-audit technical guidance through:

• Community channels (Discord, Telegram)

• Internal review sessions before professional audits