Smartraverse

Abstract

Blockchain systems, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, have evolved into essential platforms for a variety of applications. Smart contracts are small computer programs that represent a fundamental component of these systems, enabling self-executing tasks ranging from simple operations to complex workflows, all without the need for intermediaries. On Ethereum, smart contracts are permanently stored on-chain, making them immutable and transparent. However, these features also expose them to potential attacks if vulnerabilities exist in their code. To address this concern, the present thesis conducts a security analysis of real-world smart contracts to assess the vulnerability landscape of the Ethereum blockchain over a ten-year period from 2016 to 2025. This analysis leverages an Ethereum archive node, providing access to the full historical state of the blockchain. Using a custom-built vulnerability scanner in combination with established bytecode analysis tools such as Mythril and Oyente, the study focuses on a historical assessment of smart contract security. The system was designed to automatically retrieve bytecode from deployed contracts in a structured manner, perform static analysis, and classify detected issues based on vulnerability categories. The results were processed and visualised in a front-end web application, enabling clear interpretation of the findings. The analysis reveals that vulnerabilities in smart contracts were widespread during Ethereum's early years. In particular, reentrancy issues, call-related issues, and transaction issues were the most prevalent vulnerability categories, while the remaining categories were only detected sporadically. In contrast, the prevalence of such vulnerabilities has significantly declined in recent years, indicating substantial improvements in the overall security posture of Ethereum smart contracts.