## A Fortress on Bitcoin: Deconstructing Sovryn’s Multi-Layered Security Model
Community Call #23 was dedicated to the single most important topic for any DeFi protocol: **security**. The development team provided a comprehensive overview of Sovryn’s security philosophy and the multi-layered model that is in place to safeguard the protocol and its users’ funds.
### Security First Philosophy
The core message was that security is not an afterthought, but the primary consideration at every stage of the development lifecycle. The team’s philosophy is to build slowly, deliberately, and defensively, prioritizing safety over speed.
### The Layers of Security
Sovryn’s security model is not reliant on a single solution, but on a series of overlapping defenses:
1. **Rigorous Internal Review:** Every line of code is subject to extensive internal peer review by multiple developers before it is merged. The team follows a strict testing methodology, including unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests.
2. **Formal Third-Party Audits:** Before any major feature is deployed, the smart contracts are sent to reputable, independent security firms for a full audit. The results of these audits are made public to the community for full transparency.
3. **Bug Bounty Program:** The team announced plans for a formal, public bug bounty program. This will incentivize ethical hackers from around the world to find and responsibly disclose any potential vulnerabilities, adding thousands of eyes to the codebase.
4. **Governance Safeguards (The Guardian):** The Bitocracy system includes a ‘Guardian’ multisig with the power to veto malicious proposals. This acts as a crucial backstop to prevent economic attacks via governance.
5. **Emergency Pause Functionality:** Critical contracts have an emergency pause function that can be triggered by the Guardian to temporarily halt activity in the event a critical vulnerability is discovered, allowing time for a patch to be deployed.
This in-depth session was designed to give the community confidence that Sovryn is being built to the highest security standards. It demonstrated a proactive, defense-in-depth strategy that is essential for building a financial system on Bitcoin that can stand the test of time.