Invariant Violation

An invariant violation occurs when a system enters a state that contradicts its defined safety properties, such as a collateralization ratio falling below the minimum required level. In smart contract security, detecting these violations is the primary goal of formal verification.

If a developer has defined that a vault must always have more assets than liabilities, any transaction that results in a violation is a bug that could lead to insolvency. By identifying the exact sequence of events that leads to a violation, developers can patch the logic before deployment.

Invariant violations are the smoking gun of protocol failures. They represent a fundamental breakdown in the economic or technical design of the derivative system.

Ensuring they never occur is the ultimate objective of protocol engineering.