Latest news with #formalverification
Forbes
23-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
What Bitcoin Users Need To Know About Formal Verification
Bitcoin and Math Formal verification is one of the more theoretical areas of computer science. It relies on the tools of mathematical logic to verify whether statements are correct. This field historically has been obscure, but recent advances in AI may bring it front and center. I spoke with Clark Barrett, a professor of computer science at Stanford, who tells of a software bug that once led to the explosion of a rocket. The software ran an instance that forced it to convert a floating-point number into an integer. This caused the program to crash and the rocket to explode. A formal verification of the code would have avoided that problem. Compiling is the weakest form of verification. A stronger form would be to run a battery of test cases. To see this more clearly, consider a function that divides two numbers. Without doing any internal checks, that function could run on any numerical inputs. If your test cases excluded 0, your function would still compile. But the edge case of a 0 in the denominator would cause the program to crash. Only a formal verification would catch this because it's not sufficient just to evaluate the functions on the different inputs, but rather to assess the function on its underlying logic. The bar for formal verification is high, and the tools are obscure and hard to use. Outside of the Mars rover, they have not had wide acceptance. But the one possible exception today is cloud services. Cloud providers allow customers to enter their own query logic when using their services. An error in the query logic, such as inadvertently typing 'or,' instead of 'and' can have existential consequences, giving everyone access instead of no one. As such, companies like AWS are now recruiting computer scientists in formal verification by the hundreds. The big use case will be formally verifying code written by AI. As AI tools improve, more code will be written by AI, and we need fast and cheap ways to verify this code beyond simply compiling it. That's where formal verification could have its Super Bowl moment. There is now a big research effort underway to deploy these formal verification tools at scale to AI-generated code. This could have an enormous impact, making software bugs a thing of the past. Not only would software be written faster with AI, but it would be better too. Once these formal verification tools arrive, I'm eager to see how Bitcoin would fare. But the early answer here is that Bitcoin should fare well because it uses several strict forms of logic that give it its high security. For example, full nodes of the network check signatures (through SigOps) when verifying transactions. If the signature fails, the transaction will never enter the mempool, nor be included in a block. Similarly, miners win a block only if their hash of the block header lies below the difficulty target. And a transaction is valid only if the inputs exceeds its outputs. In other words, the logic in Bitcoin is fully deterministic. There is no uncertainty about the rules of the protocol. And because of this, there is little room for software bugs, evidenced by the lack of hacks over the last 15 years. That said, Bitcoin is still an example of social computing. You could say that it is technically vulnerable to collusion if, for example, every single miner in the world agreed to fork the chain. That could happen in theory. But that's where economics comes in: It would not be in the miner's interest to do so.
Forbes
23-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Formal Verification And Bitcoin
Bitcoin and Math ChatGPT Formal verification is one of the more theoretical areas of computer science. It relies on the tools of mathematical logic to verify whether statements are correct. This field historically has been obscure, but recent advances in AI may bring it front and center. I spoke with Clark Barrett, a professor of computer science at Stanford, who tells of a software bug that once led to the explosion of a rocket. The software ran an instance that forced it to convert a floating-point number into an integer. This caused the program to crash and the rocket to explode. A formal verification of the code would have avoided that problem. Compiling is the weakest form of verification. A stronger form would be to run a battery of test cases. To see this more clearly, consider a function that divides two numbers. Without doing any internal checks, that function could run on any numerical inputs. If your test cases excluded 0, your function would still compile. But the edge case of a 0 in the denominator would cause the program to crash. Only a formal verification would catch this because it's not sufficient just to evaluate the functions on the different inputs, but rather to assess the function on its underlying logic. The bar for formal verification is high, and the tools are obscure and hard to use. Outside of the Mars rover, they have not had wide acceptance. But the one possible exception today is cloud services. Cloud providers allow customers to enter their own query logic when using their services. An error in the query logic, such as inadvertently typing 'or,' instead of 'and' can have existential consequences, giving everyone access instead of no one. As such, companies like AWS are now recruiting computer scientists in formal verification by the hundreds. The big use case will be formally verifying code written by AI. As AI tools improve, more code will be written by AI, and we need fast and cheap ways to verify this code beyond simply compiling it. That's where formal verification could have its Super Bowl moment. There is now a big research effort underway to deploy these formal verification tools at scale to AI-generated code. This could have an enormous impact, making software bugs a thing of the past. Not only would software be written faster with AI, but it would be better too. Once these formal verification tools arrive, I'm eager to see how Bitcoin would fare. But the early answer here is that Bitcoin should fare well because it uses several strict forms of logic that give it its high security. For example, full nodes of the network check signatures (through SigOps) when verifying transactions. If the signature fails, the transaction will never enter the mempool, nor be included in a block. Similarly, miners win a block only if their hash of the block header lies below the difficulty target. And a transaction is valid only if the inputs exceeds its outputs. In other words, the logic in Bitcoin is fully deterministic. There is no uncertainty about the rules of the protocol. And because of this, there is little room for software bugs, evidenced by the lack of hacks over the last 15 years. That said, Bitcoin is still an example of social computing. You could say that it is technically vulnerable to collusion if, for example, every single miner in the world agreed to fork the chain. That could happen in theory. But that's where economics comes in: It would not be in the miner's interest to do so.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Axiomise Featured Gold Sponsor at RISC-V Summit Europe Next Week in Paris
Ongoing Booth Demos of Axiomise's formalISA bug hunter and footprint for end-to-end architectural verification Lightning Talk, Presentation on Benefits of Formal Verification for RISC-V Verification from Founder and CEO Dr. Ashish Darbari LONDON, May 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Axiomise®, the leading provider of cutting-edge formal verification solutions, will feature the effectiveness of its formal verification solutions for corner-case bug hunting at the RISC-V Summit Europe next week in Paris. RISC-V Summit Europe attendees will see demonstrations of Axiomise's formalISA® that find previously missed bugs and footprint®, part of the axiomiser® platform for end-to-end architectural verification. Visit Axiomise in Booth #04 Tuesday, May 13, through Thursday, May 15, at La Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie. Dr. Ashish Darbari, a formal verification expert and Axiomise's Founder and CEO, will give a two-minute lightning talk Tuesday in the plenary conference room titled 'Getting Towards First-Time RISC-V Silicon with Automated End-to-End Formal.' Dr. Darbari will address how smart formal methods powered by its formalISA and footprint can empower designers to build RISC-V silicon right the first time. The talk will highlight how the Axiomise tools go beyond compliance testing by 'axiomising' correctness through exhaustive proofs, exposing corner-case bugs and coverage for functional power, performance and area (PPA), safety and security verification. Wednesday morning's program includes' Making RISC-V Market-Ready: The Economic Case for Formal Verification,' a presentation by Dr. Darbari. He will share how automated formal methods can shrink time to market and costs to get RISC-V processors and SoCs ready. The talk will go beyond compliance verification, highlighting advanced techniques such as formal method-based bug hunting, exhaustive proofs and comprehensive coverage to achieve high certification quality. The Axiomise EdgeAxiomise builds solutions to tackle corner-case bug hunting for RISC-V processors through formal proofs to identify bugs in security processors such as cheriot-ibex and superscalar processors like CVA6. Its formalISA app has been deployed in the verification of dozens of processors, finding bugs previously missed by other verification tools and providers. Using Axiomise's formalISA, exhaustive architectural compliance through full proofs and end-to-end architectural verification is possible. The footprint app has been deployed in the testing of more than 85 different designs. To arrange a demonstration or private meeting, send email to info@ About AxiomiseAxiomise is accelerating formal verification adoption through its unique combination of training, consulting, services and specialized verification solutions for RISC-V. Axiomise was founded by Dr. Ashish Darbari, FBCS, FIETE, DPhil (Oxford), who has been a formal verification practitioner for more than two decades with 67 patents in formal verification and over 85 publications. Engage with Axiomise at:Website: X: @axiomiseLinkedIn: Axiomise, formalISA, footprint, axiomiser and the Axiomise logo are trademarks of Axiomise Limited, UK. Making formal normal is a registered trademark of Axiomise Limited, UK. For more information, contact:Fabiana MutoPublic Relations for
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Axiomise Featured Gold Sponsor at RISC-V Summit Europe Next Week in Paris
Ongoing Booth Demos of Axiomise's formalISA bug hunter and footprint for end-to-end architectural verification Lightning Talk, Presentation on Benefits of Formal Verification for RISC-V Verification from Founder and CEO Dr. Ashish Darbari LONDON, May 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Axiomise®, the leading provider of cutting-edge formal verification solutions, will feature the effectiveness of its formal verification solutions for corner-case bug hunting at the RISC-V Summit Europe next week in Paris. RISC-V Summit Europe attendees will see demonstrations of Axiomise's formalISA® that find previously missed bugs and footprint®, part of the axiomiser® platform for end-to-end architectural verification. Visit Axiomise in Booth #04 Tuesday, May 13, through Thursday, May 15, at La Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie. Dr. Ashish Darbari, a formal verification expert and Axiomise's Founder and CEO, will give a two-minute lightning talk Tuesday in the plenary conference room titled 'Getting Towards First-Time RISC-V Silicon with Automated End-to-End Formal.' Dr. Darbari will address how smart formal methods powered by its formalISA and footprint can empower designers to build RISC-V silicon right the first time. The talk will highlight how the Axiomise tools go beyond compliance testing by 'axiomising' correctness through exhaustive proofs, exposing corner-case bugs and coverage for functional power, performance and area (PPA), safety and security verification. Wednesday morning's program includes' Making RISC-V Market-Ready: The Economic Case for Formal Verification,' a presentation by Dr. Darbari. He will share how automated formal methods can shrink time to market and costs to get RISC-V processors and SoCs ready. The talk will go beyond compliance verification, highlighting advanced techniques such as formal method-based bug hunting, exhaustive proofs and comprehensive coverage to achieve high certification quality. The Axiomise EdgeAxiomise builds solutions to tackle corner-case bug hunting for RISC-V processors through formal proofs to identify bugs in security processors such as cheriot-ibex and superscalar processors like CVA6. Its formalISA app has been deployed in the verification of dozens of processors, finding bugs previously missed by other verification tools and providers. Using Axiomise's formalISA, exhaustive architectural compliance through full proofs and end-to-end architectural verification is possible. The footprint app has been deployed in the testing of more than 85 different designs. To arrange a demonstration or private meeting, send email to info@ About AxiomiseAxiomise is accelerating formal verification adoption through its unique combination of training, consulting, services and specialized verification solutions for RISC-V. Axiomise was founded by Dr. Ashish Darbari, FBCS, FIETE, DPhil (Oxford), who has been a formal verification practitioner for more than two decades with 67 patents in formal verification and over 85 publications. Engage with Axiomise at:Website: X: @axiomiseLinkedIn: Axiomise, formalISA, footprint, axiomiser and the Axiomise logo are trademarks of Axiomise Limited, UK. Making formal normal is a registered trademark of Axiomise Limited, UK. For more information, contact:Fabiana MutoPublic Relations for
