A Quick Guide to Blockchain Testing

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Blockchain technology is improving data storage, security, and management worldwide. In response, Blockchain testing solutions have been developed to ensure blockchain applications are thoroughly tested. 

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have made blockchain a household name, enabling many practical applications already being explored. Businesses will be more accurate, efficient, and secure with blockchain technology. However, they need help understanding how to test blockchain apps.

The blockchain industry is entering its third decade, so legacy companies will likely embrace crypto. 

A Fortune business insights report says the global blockchain market will grow from $7.18 billion in 2022 to $163.83 billion by 2029. The CAGR is 56.3% from 2022 to 2029.

Also, NFTs are everywhere, and assets are tokenized. Thus, blockchain is expected to grow significantly over the next decade, so you must test blockchain applications aggressively. This article provides an overview of blockchain testing, its advantages, what types exist, the phases, and other aspects.

What is blockchain?

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A blockchain is a decentralized, shared, immutable database that tracks transactions across multiple nodes. This public ledger securely maintains records (blocks) linked through cryptographic hashes to ensure irreversibility. With blockchain technology, you can do faster transactions, lower costs, and have more security. The blockchain is one of the main components of Bitcoin, which is a cryptocurrency.

Different Types of Block Chain

A blockchain can be classified into three types: Consortium (fully decentralized), Public (decentralized), and Private (partially decentralized). There is also a fourth type of blockchain, a hybrid blockchain.

What is Blockchain Testing?

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Blockchain testing involves evaluating various components (including smart contracts) on the blockchain. The testing of blockchain technology involves multiple features, such as blocks, mining, transactions, wallets, etc., for which special tools are required. Blockchain testing can facilitate several quality stages, including system performance and security.

Moreover, testing blockchains should be conducted across the entire environment. The fundamental function of a blockchain-based application is to interact with APIs, smart contracts, and nodes.

Blockchain testing involves evaluating various components (including smart contracts) on the blockchain. The testing of blockchain technology involves multiple components, such as blocks, mining, transactions, wallets, etc., for which special tools are required. Blockchain testing can facilitate several quality stages, including system performance and security.

Moreover, testing blockchains should be conducted across the entire environment. The fundamental function of a blockchain-based application is to interact with APIs, smart contracts, and nodes.

Types of Blockchain Testing

Suppose you are wondering how to perform blockchain testing. In that case, the basic concept you may have to understand is that blockchain application is software, so the existing software testing techniques also apply to the blockchain. However, the tools, priority, and testing focus are slightly different, as blockchain testing is very technical.

It is possible to test blockchain software solutions with the following different types of blockchain testing, including functional, performance, security, and node testing.

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• Functional testing

Functional testing ensures that the blockchain meets certain requirements since requirements define what the system can do. Black-box testing looks at how the application works without digging inside, and it's a good way for the QA to get familiar with the blockchain system. Functional testing includes integration, unit, smoke, and regression testing.

For example, Functional tests check whether the reward calculation is accurate or if cryptocurrency can be sent and received.

• API testing

API testing is very important for blockchain applications as we need to ensure that interaction between the applications is working fine in the blockchain ecosystem.

• Test for correct behaviour
• Check the requests and responses

The known tools for API testing can be used for blockchain API testing as well.

• Integration testing

As done under traditional software testing, here in the case of blockchain as well, this testing is done to ensure that different components of the blockchain system are working fine when combined together.

• Performance testing

This testing ensures the blockchain application performs fine given the expected conditions and workloads. It assesses how scalable, fast, stable, and reliable a blockchain solution is under changing conditions. The network latency is checked based on block size, network size, or transaction size.  A key goal is to make the blockchain solution faster, more stable, and more reliable while removing performance bottlenecks.

• Security testing

Security testing detects vulnerabilities in blockchain systems on the network, client, and server sides. It ensures that no loopholes, risks, threats, or vulnerabilities could allow intruders to gain access. Security testing is based on six core principles: Confidentiality, Authenticity, Authority, Integrity, Availability, and Non-Repudiation. 

For example, in the case of a Bitcoin transfer which may carry a big money value behind, it becomes extremely important to check for security constraints.

• Smart Contract testing

This involves detailed functional testing of the business logic and processes specific to the blockchain.

• Node testing

In Node testing, there must be independent testing of each diverted node on the network to ensure that the recordings are accurate and the connections are secure.

• Penetration testing

Blockchain Penetration testing is a procedure that simulates a cyberattack on a blockchain system to identify vulnerabilities. Penetration testing identifies code weaknesses that may be exploited through injection attacks.

• Cycle testing

Here, the consensus protocol is to be tested, which maintains the strength of a blockchain across all cycles. This helps in ensuring that all transactions are stored in the correct sequence.

Blockchain Testing: QA approach

Blockchain testing combines automated tools with manual testing to ensure applications are secure and robust. 

This means verifying transactions for accuracy, making sure blockchain data is reliable, and making sure it can handle high transaction volumes.

Also, it tests how well the blockchain application scales and performs.

Different Phases of Blockchain Testing

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• Phase one: Initiation

Testing a blockchain system begins with the initiation phase. The testing process allows testers to understand all system life cycle components as they analyze and comprehend their functionality. A detailed system overview is generated, including all components, subcomponents, and interfaces, so you know how everything works.

• Phase two - Design

As part of the design phase, all key components of the system are identified, and a detailed test strategy for the blockchain is devised. Several test cases and specifications for the test environment are included in this test strategy.

• Phase three - Planning

During this phase, you must plan how each test type will be conducted and how many tests will be conducted at each level.

You will need to develop alternative testing strategies when the system is unavailable. It is possible to test using a private blockchain as an alternative strategy. The tests include API testing, functional testing, performance testing, and security testing.

• Phase four - Result phase

This phase of the project includes a report on the overall testing of the system. This phase requires checking the system's performance, verifying low-level transactions, and validating smart contracts.

What is the importance of Blockchain Testing?

There has been a significant shift in the business world in recent years driven by blockchain technology, and it is the basis for popular digital currencies such as Bitcoin. It is time for testers to learn how to evaluate blockchain apps as deployment and integration capabilities expand.

Blockchain technology can be applied beyond finance and used for everything from energy allocation to the government. All these factors contribute to making blockchain debugging challenging.

Further, if we continue testing blockchains, we must modify our existing methods. However, there are some primary issues with blockchain testing, such as a lack of best practices and inadequate measures to deal with data size, security, and performance.

A blockchain network must be tested to ensure all stakeholders are on board. Therefore, it provides businesses with a secure and functional infrastructure.

• Maintains an error-free decentralized ledger.
• Validates all entities in the system.
• Make sure the blockchain ecosystem is mature and working.
• Allows companies to design and deploy blockchain technology safely.
• Reduces the risk of introducing new apps while facilitating revalidation.

What should we test in a Blockchain?

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• Block size -

You can have up to 1 megabyte in a block. The average block size for the first 18 months after the introduction of Bitcoin was under 30 KB. However, it was hovering around 1 MB in December. What if the block size exceeds 1 MB? There is still a question mark over it.

• Chain size -

‍There is no restriction on the length of the chain. It is, therefore, enjoyable to test its performance and functionality. As an example, Bitcoin's size continues to grow every day.

• Smart contract testing -

‍The concept of a blockchain refers to a collection of software modules that contain transaction-specific business logic and conditions.

• Load -

‍Testing the load on a blockchain is one of the most important parameters since it is directly related to the number of users. Let us consider Bitcoin as an example. Currently, the system handles 3-4 transactions per second, but what if it grows, like Visa (2000), PayPal (193), etc.? Thus, performance decreases as the blockchain's load increases, making load the major concern.

• Security -

Security is the most important aspect of a Blockchain application, and if a particular layer is attacked, it can't stop an instantaneous transaction. Thus, when testing blockchains, you must ensure that transactions are secure and that malicious attacks don't happen.

• Data transmission -

‍The use of blockchains facilitates the transfer of data between computers around the world. Thus, ensuring that no data is lost during the process is crucial.

• ‍Block addition -

‍Blocks cannot be added to the chain before they have been authenticated. A test of block addition should be performed to ensure no leaks exist, and blocks should only be added once authentication has been completed.

Benefits of Blockchain Testing

• It ensures defect-free distributed ledgers.
• Creates and deploys blockchain-based applications and infrastructure securely for organizations.
• Assures that the blockchain ecosystem is in place and working as intended.
• Identifies and authenticates different entities in the system
• When a new application is added to the blockchain ecosystem, the implementation can be easily revalidated through blockchain testing.

Challenges of Blockchain App Testing

Some challenges are associated with testing blockchain apps, and here are some big ones.

• Diverse backgrounds and specialties

Blockchain-based apps require a deep understanding of blockchains, distributed systems, coding, cryptography, finance, etc. Moreover, dozens of blockchain platforms are on the market right now, and they each have a different tech stack. In some cases, smart contracts are written in widely used programming languages, while in others, they're written in unique ones. As an example, Ethereum uses Solidity, and Cardano uses Plutus. Therefore, testing blockchain-based apps requires some new skills.

• Standardization is lacking

Many problems are associated with blockchain applications, including needing more official standards to guide their development and testing.

• Choosing the wrong tools

Currently, the market does not have sufficient automation tools to enable blockchain to be installed and configured on a single machine in a "testing mode."

• Incentives-based testing

There will be a need to download the node, synchronize it with the rest, and test it using the command line or an API. Further, any application that utilizes a wallet must be downloaded and adjusted. There usually needs to be a timely completion of the process.

• An immutable blockchain

Blockchain is a non-reversible technology, making smart contract testing a necessity. Moreover, you must take great care of your test data. There should be no use of test data visible in a blockchain, and it will remain there forever.

• The performance

There is a direct correlation between a blockchain platform's performance and an application's performance. Some blockchain platforms have limited transaction rates and latency. Despite this, it is often difficult to predict the real-world load on a blockchain because of the variety of factors involved.

Blockchain Testing Tools & Frameworks

1. Ethereum Tester 

Ethereum Tester is a highly capable open-source blockchain testing tool with a pretty easy setup and a scalable API for multiple testing requirements.

2. Ganache (previously TestRPC)

Ganache is mostly used to test Ethereum contracts locally, and it lets you try multiple accounts using a blockchain simulation.

3. BitcoinJ

It's a Bitcoin library, a Java framework for interacting with Bitcoin's network and testing Bitcoin-based apps. It doesn't require the standard BTC Core files from Bitcoin.com. You can send and receive Bitcoins instantly with this library.

4. Hyperledger Composer

The main thing is that it's an open-source tool for creating blockchain applications. You can also use it for testing, and it supports three types of testing: interactive, automated unit, and automated system testing. 

5. Populus

This blockchain testing framework integrates a set of Ethereum attributes for testing contracts seamlessly. It uses Python's py.test framework, so it's easy to use.

6. Exonum Testkit

Exonum TestKit tests the activation of the entire blockchain application. The tool lets us test APIs and handle transactions without worrying about network stuff. 

7. Manticore

Manticore reads binary files and smart contracts symbolically. The Manticore platform offers interactive analysis and automated vulnerability detection during blockchain testing. 

8. Truffle suite

Truffle offers more than just blockchain testing, like integration with Chai and Mocha. It's known for its great testing features, like automated contract testing. 

9. Corda

Corda is an open-source distributed ledger platform that uses blockchain technology. You can do contract testing, integration testing, flow testing, and load testing with the built-in tool. 

Conclusion

There is a strong demand for high-quality blockchain products, which can only be met by investing in blockchain testing. A thorough test of all components of the blockchain system is conducted to ensure they are functioning correctly and are communicating effectively with applications.
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Blockchain Testing FAQs

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Q1. What is the difference between Blockchain and Bitcoin?

A key difference between Bitcoin and Blockchain is that they're both flexible and broad in application. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin only facilitate international monetary transactions, but Blockchain has many more use cases.
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Q2. How do I become a blockchain tester?

A blockchain tester should deeply understand blockchain technology, software engineering, and testing methods. It's a must that you know how to program and have experience creating and testing apps. You'll also need a basic understanding of cryptography and familiarity with automated testing tools.
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Q3. What skills are required for blockchain testing?

You need a good understanding of distributed ledger technology and cryptography for blockchain testing. As a tester, it's also important to know what testing techniques and tools are popular. There's white box testing, integration testing, and load testing. You also have to understand how to develop software and protect it.
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Q4. What Are the Different Types of Blockchain Testing? 

The different types of blockchain testing include functional testing, performance testing, scalability testing, security testing, compatibility testing, and usability testing. Blockchains must pass these tests to ensure they work as expected and are secure.
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