Recently, CertiK co-founder and Columbia University professor Gu Ronghui gave an exclusive interview to the globally renowned financial media CNBC Arabic Channel, sharing his profound insights into the future of Web3 security, focusing on the industry applications of formal verification, the role of AI in blockchain security, and emerging technology risks.
Gu Ronghui stated that formal verification is key to building blockchain security foundations, with its purpose being to verify through mathematical methods whether code behavior aligns with expected logic. This method is more rigorous and challenging than traditional audit tools. He has repeatedly emphasized that blockchain's essence is not just technological innovation, but also the reconstruction of trust, and a truly credible system must be verifiable.
Formal Verification: Building the Security Foundation of Blockchain
Formal verification, as a high-threshold and high-intensity audit method, requires deep technical accumulation and understanding of underlying logic. Gu Ronghui pointed out in the interview that while this method is complex, it has irreplaceable advantages in ensuring blockchain security and controllability.
His connection with formal verification can be traced back to his academic years. In 2016, he collaborated with Yale University Professor Zhong Shao to successfully develop the world's first fully formally verified multi-core operating system kernel, CertiKOS, which was evaluated by Google as "Unbreakable". This achievement not only validated the technology's application in the real world but also laid the foundation for its entry into industry practice.
Subsequently, Gu Ronghui founded CertiK in 2017, introducing formal verification into blockchain scenarios. Today, this technology is widely applied in top projects focusing on privacy and security such as ZK, and large financial institutions like Ant Group. In the interview, Gu Ronghui stated that to improve formal verification efficiency, CertiK has internally built auxiliary tools like AI intelligent analysis to automatically identify code characteristics and generate logical evidence.
While promoting the landing of academic achievements, Gu Ronghui has also been closely monitoring emerging industry threats. Regarding concerns that "supercomputers or quantum computing might threaten blockchain security", he candidly acknowledged that such technologies have potential risks but currently are not substantial enough to pose a real threat. "Supercomputers' capabilities are not yet sufficient to break existing blockchain systems," Gu Ronghui believes, "more importantly, the industry is actively building quantum-resistant algorithms and defense mechanisms, and solutions are possible."
AI Application: Reshaping the Web3 Security Landscape
In the interview, Gu Ronghui especially emphasized that AI is reshaping the blockchain security landscape, particularly showing enormous potential in smart contract auditing and on-chain threat identification. "Correctly applying AI can bring substantive improvements to the blockchain security system."
He further stated that CertiK's research shows that malicious behaviors in Web3 projects are becoming increasingly complex, with some phishing projects capable of tracking users for extended periods and conducting precise fraud. However, through AI models' rapid identification capabilities, such attacks can now often be identified and handled within hours.
Currently, CertiK has widely applied AI in vulnerability mining and audit processes. By parsing on-chain early warning data, it assists in identifying vulnerability causes and attack paths; simultaneously, it uses AI technology to scan known vulnerability patterns, analyze code logic, and generate reports, constructing an intelligent audit system centered on "human-machine collaboration" that provides reliable mathematical support and efficiency enhancement for manual audit teams.
However, with the increasing popularity of AI applications, attackers can also use it to enhance attack methods. Gu Ronghui believes this means the threshold for security confrontation has been raised, and the industry needs more powerful security solutions.
Technology Vision: Expanding Web3 Trust Boundaries
Gu Ronghui has always believed that the next stage of Web3 development will move from "usable" to "trustworthy". Efficiency and innovation are not the endpoint; responsibility and trust are the core values of technological evolution. Only by embedding verifiable security mechanisms can blockchain truly become a trustworthy global financial infrastructure.
This is the mission CertiK has adhered to since its establishment—using formal verification as its core to build a comprehensive security product system covering investment incubation, security auditing, and compliance consulting, providing verifiable security for projects and setting higher security standards for the industry.
For Gu Ronghui, this is not just a business strategy, but a life choice. From studying at Yale to teaching at Columbia, from academic research to entrepreneurial practice, he has consistently focused on transforming formal verification from theory into a practical foundation, driving industry trust through technology.
As a Columbia University professor and CertiK CEO, Gu Ronghui spans academic and commercial domains, with his focus always on protecting Web3 security. He has mentioned that his teaching philosophy is rooted in integrating real-world insights into academic discussions, aiming to build cognitive and capability foundations for the new generation in network security.
"Ensuring Web3's security is not just a technological challenge, but a social responsibility," Gu Ronghui has repeatedly stated publicly. "Our goal is to make this industry safer and more trustworthy."
