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| Open Access |
DOI: Inside Blockchain Startups: Precision Strategies to Sidestep Technical Pitfalls
Vladislav Markushin , Team Lead, Rust Developer at Composable Foundation, ArgentinaAbstract
This paper presents a structured analysis of common engineering failures in early-stage blockchain startups. Drawing on practical experience within the Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot, and Cosmos SDK ecosystems, it identifies five recurrent categories of technical pitfalls: inadequate system design, fragile or overly coupled architectures, improper use of cross-chain protocols, insufficient build and release automation, and limited observability and runtime diagnostics. The study employs a case-based methodology across five representative projects, covering a wide range of protocol layers and architectural patterns—from decentralized messengers to cross-chain bridge infrastructure.
Findings demonstrate that the adoption of mature engineering practices—such as Command–Query Responsibility Segregation (CQRS), event sourcing, finite state machines, proxy contract standards (EIP-1967, EIP-2535), and type safety in Rust—substantially improves system resilience and extensibility. Particular emphasis is placed on Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) as a robust standard for secure interoperability across heterogeneous chains. The paper also highlights how automated CI/CD pipelines, multi-layer telemetry, and centralized alerting frameworks support early fault detection and operational responsiveness. The study concludes that minimizing custom low-level implementations in favor of standardized, modular approaches is critical for building secure, auditable, and scalable decentralized systems.
Keywords
blockchain, cross-chain, Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot, IBC, development
References
ConsenSys. (2021). Poly Network Hack Analysis. ConsenSys Diligence Report. Retrieved from https://consensys.net/diligence.
Cosmos. (2022). Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol Specification. Cosmos SDK Documentation. Retrieved from https://docs.cosmos.network.
Dannen, C. (2017). Introducing Ethereum and Solidity: Foundations of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Programming for Beginners. Apress.
Knuth, D. E. (1974). Structured Programming with go to Statements. ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), 6(4), 261–301.
Wood, G. (2016). Polkadot: Vision for a Heterogeneous Multi-Chain Framework. Web3 Foundation White Paper.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Vladislav Markushin
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