What Is the Difference between a Bug Bounty Program and a Security Audit?

A security audit is a formal, in-depth review of a smart contract's code by a professional third-party firm before deployment, aiming to find and fix vulnerabilities. A bug bounty program, conversely, is a continuous, post-deployment incentive scheme that rewards independent security researchers (white-hat hackers) for responsibly discovering and reporting new vulnerabilities in the live code.

Audits are preventative and one-time; bug bounties are reactive and ongoing, forming a continuous security layer.