Call for papers
Submission site
PDF submissions can be submitted at https://sbc25.hotcrp.com/
Important Dates
- Talk submission deadline: March 13, 2025, 11:59pm PT
- Final acceptance notification: May 13, 2025
- Conference: Aug. 4 - 6, 2025
Proceedings and Submission at other Conferences
SBC is not archival and does not have proceedings. It is allowed to submit work which has been published at or submitted to another conference or a journal.
Topics of Interest
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
Cryptography & distributed systems
- New cryptographic primitives or consensus protocols applied to blockchain architecture
- Novel applications of existing cryptography and consensus protocols to blockchain architecture
- Security proofs or analysis blockchain protocols
Formal methods and Programming Languages
- Secure programming languages for blockchain protocols & smart contracts
- Formal analysis or verification of cryptography, consensus-critical code and other blockchain components
- Limitations of formal methods in blockchain design and analysis
- Tools for design and analysis of distributed systems and cryptosystems (verifiers, solvers, provers, etc)
Infrastructure
- Secure scaling
- Secure oracles
Confidentiality
- Zero knowledge proofs and other methods for confidentiality
- Technologies for reconciling privacy and compliance
Hardware
- HSMs and other specialized custodial hardware
- Hardware wallets and similar
- Satellite, radio and alternative means of transport/relay
- Analysis of using off-the-shelf devices for cryptocurrency purposes
Testing & deployment
- Testing methodologies (simulation, experiment design, testnets)
- Measurement and analysis of production systems
- Production system upgrade strategies
- Reproducible build systems
Cryptoeconomics
- Analysis or critique of any economic aspect of permissionless or permissioned protocols
- Techniques for measurement of resource use and cost
- MEV
- Decentralized stabilization algorithms
- Systemic risk and resilience in crypto financial systems
Attacks and threat modeling
Do Not Submit
The conference is generally not intended for price analysis of cryptocurrency markets or other investor related topics. Nor is it a venue for legal considerations of owning or using cryptocurrency. We request proposals that are engineering or scientific in nature only.
Submission Types
Technical Paper
A detailed technical proposal that describes a novel contribution to the theory or practice of blockchain engineering or science, especially relating to engineering risk and/or security. Any submission not prefixed with WIP or SOK will be assumed to be of this type.
WIP - Work In Progress
A promising but early stage idea generally not ready for publication, but which could benefit from constructive feedback from a technical audience attuned to bleeding edge developments. This category is ideal for high-risk high-return ideas that may be novel or impactful if successful, but which are too early in development for their viability to be assured. SBC aims to be a supportive venue for such talks. Please prefix the title with WIP: to clearly denote this submission type.
SOK - Systemization of Knowledge
A talk that organizes and presents existing knowledge to better facilitate education and exploration of the topic. Examples include surveying promising research directions, comparing alternate approaches (for example, the many cryptographic signature schemes or consensus protocols used by different blockchains), presenting evidence for a position, or integrating knowledge from other disciplines. Please prefix the title with SOK: to clearly denote this submission type.
Submission Instructions
- Please submit your talk at https://sbc25.hotcrp.com/. Please use Portable Document Format (.pdf).
- Submissions can be any length but the Program Committee will only review and decide on the first twelve (12) pages. We strongly recommend a minimum of six (6) pages and that it contain enough technical detail for the program committee to effectively evaluate the proposal. Insufficient detail will result in a resubmission request or rejection.
- Papers can optionally be anonymized. The authors can decide to optionally anonymize the submission by omitting the author names in the pdf. Author names will be recorded in either case in HotCRP but not displayed to the reviewers.
- If you have any conflict of interest with a member of the program committee, please note it in the designated section of the HotCRP submission form.