A High-Level Metamodel for Developing Smart Contracts on the Ethereum Virtual Machine

Abstract

The development of smart contracts presents significant challenges compared to traditional software development, such as the immutability of the blockchain and the limitation of program size. These challenges can lead to human errors and the existence of vulnerabilities that may be exploited by malicious individuals, resulting in substantial financial losses. Contract developers face language and infrastructure constraints and insufficient information on interface patterns and implementation specifications. Existing proposals are often challenging to understand, with complex formal verifications requiring expertise in this approach. This article proposes using Model-Driven Engineering (MDE), employing a metamodel for contract development and code generation for the corresponding platform. The metamodel proposed in this study referred to as the High-Level Metamodel for Smart Contract (HLM-SC), is an abstraction applicable to contract development in various contexts. HLM-SC consists of a set of metaclasses allowing the declaration of essential elements for constructing a contract on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). A graphical tool has been developed to facilitate contract modeling following HLM-SC specifications. Additionally, the model generated from the tool is transformed into Solidity code. This approach aims to overcome developers’ limitations, offering a more understandable and efficient approach to building smart contracts on the blockchain.