Call for Papers
Important dates
- Abstract submission:
April 22, 2021May 6, 2021May 16, 2021 - Full paper submission:
April 29, 2021May 13, 2021May 23, 2021 - Notification:
June 10, 2021June 24, 2021June 30, 2021 - Camera-ready:
July 8, 2021July 14, 2021July 30, 2021 - Workshop: July 18 and 19, 2021
Deadlines are Anywhere on Earth.
Topics of interest
Blockchains are decentralized transactional ledgers that rely on cryptographic hash functions for guaranteeing the integrity of the stored data. Participants on the network reach agreement on what valid transactions are through consensus algorithms.
Blockchains may also provide support for Smart Contracts. Smart Contracts are scripts of an ad-hoc programming language that are stored in the Blockchain and that run on the network. They can interact with the ledger’s data and update its state. These scripts can express the logic of possibly complex contracts between users of the Blockchain. Thus, Smart Contracts can facilitate the economic activity of Blockchain participants.
With the emergence and increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, it is now of utmost importance to have strong guarantees of the behavior of Blockchain software. These guarantees can be brought by using Formal Methods. Indeed, Blockchain software encompasses many topics of computer science where using Formal Methods techniques and tools are relevant: consensus algorithms to ensure the liveness and the security of the data on the chain, programming languages specifically designed to write Smart Contracts, cryptographic protocols, such as zero-knowledge proofs, used to ensure privacy, etc.
This workshop is a forum to identify theoretical and practical approaches of formal methods for Blockchain technology. Topics include, but are not limited to:
- Formal models of Blockchain applications or concepts
- Formal methods for consensus protocols
- Formal methods for Blockchain-specific cryptographic primitives or protocols
- Design and implementation of Smart Contract languages
- Verification of Smart Contracts
Submission
Submit original manuscripts (not published or considered elsewhere) with a page limit of 12 pages for full papers and 6 pages for short papers (excluding bibliography and short appendix of up to 5 additional pages).
Alternatively you may also submit an extended abstract of up to 3 pages (including bibliography) summarizing your ongoing work in the area of formal methods and blockchain. Authors of selected extended-abstracts are invited to give a short lightning talk.
Submission link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=fmbc2021
Authors are encouraged to use LaTeX and prepare their submissions according to the instructions and styling guides for OASIcs provided by Dagstuhl.
Instructions for authors: https://submission.dagstuhl.de/documentation/authors#oasics
At least one author of an accepted paper is expected to present the paper at the workshop as a registered participant.
Proceedings
All submissions will be peer-reviewed by at least three members of the program committee for quality and relevance. Accepted regular papers (full and short papers) will be included in the workshop proceedings, published as a volume of the OpenAccess Series in Informatics (OASIcs) by Dagstuhl.
Invited Speaker
David Dill, Lead Researcher, Blockchain, Novi/Facebook, USA