Solidity 0.8.0 introduced gas costs for arithmetic operations to check for overflows and underflows, impacting gas optimization.
The use of 'unchecked' blocks in Solidity can save gas but may lead to vulnerabilities if not used carefully.
The 'EnhancedSafeMathTester' was developed to explore safe usage of 'unchecked' math in various scenarios, including methods for handling arithmetic with safety mechanisms.
Additional security patterns such as emergency circuit breakers, access control, and event monitoring were implemented to enhance contract security beyond arithmetic safety.