2nd Workshop on Formal Methods for Blockchains (FMBC) 2020 - First Call

https://fmbc.gitlab.io/2020

July 19, 2020, Los Angeles, USA

Co-located with the 32nd International Conference on Computer-Aided
Verification (CAV 2020)

http://i-cav.org/2020/

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IMPORTANT DATES
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Abstract submission: May 5, 2020
Full paper submission: May 12, 2020
Notification: June 16, 2020
Camera-ready: July 7, 2020
Conference: July 19, 2020
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TOPICS OF INTEREST
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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

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SUBMISSION
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Submit original manuscripts (not published or considered elsewhere)
with a maximum of twelve pages (full papers), six pages (short
papers), and two pages (extended abstract) describing new and emerging
ideas or summarizing existing work). Each paper should include a title
and the name and affiliation of each author. Authors of selected
extended-abstracts are invited to give a short lightning talk.

At least one author of an accepted paper is expected to present the
paper at the workshop as a registered participant.

Submission link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=fmbc2020

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PROCEEDINGS
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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.

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INVITED SPEAKER
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Grigore Rosu, Professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
USA and Founder of Runtime Verification

http://fsl.cs.illinois.edu/index.php/Grigore_Rosu
https://runtimeverification.com/

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PROGRAM COMMITTEE
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PC CO-CHAIRS
* Bruno Bernardo (Nomadic Labs, France) (bruno@nomadic-labs.com)
* Diego Marmsoler (University of Exeter, UK) (D.Marmsoler@exeter.ac.uk)

PC MEMBERS
* Wolfgang Ahrendt (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden)
* Lacramioara Astefanoei (Nomadic Labs, France)
* Massimo Bartoletti (University of Cagliari, Italy)
* Bernhard Beckert (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany)
* Achim Brucker (University of Exeter, UK)
* Silvia Crafa (Universita di Padova, Italy)
* Zaynah Dargaye (Nomadic Labs, France)
* Jérémie Decouchant (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg)
* Ansgar Fehnker (University of Twente, Netherlands)
* Georges Gonthier (Inria, France)
* Florian Kammueller (Middlesex University London, UK)
* Maurice Herlihy (Brown University, USA)
* Igor Konnov (Informal, Austria)
* Andreas Lochbihler (Digital Asset, Switzerland)
* Anastasia Mavridou (NASA Ames, USA)
* Simão Melo de Sousa (Universidade da Beira Interior, Portugal)
* Karl Palmskog (KTH, Sweden)
* Vincent Rahli (University of Birmingham, UK)
* Andreas Rossberg (Dfinity Foundation, Germany)
* Claudio Russo (Dfinity Foundation, USA)
* César Sanchez (Imdea, Spain)
* Clara Schneidewind (TU Wien, Austria)
* Ilya Sergey (Yale-NUS College/NUS, Singapore)
* Bas Spitters (Aarhus University/Concordium, Denmark)
* Mark Staples (CSIRO Data61, Australia)
* Meng Sun (Peking University, China)
* Simon Thompson (University of Kent, UK)
* Philip Wadler (University of Edinburgh / IOHK, UK)

(Note: Additional PC members may be added in the coming weeks.)