Immunefi: The Platform for White Hat Hackers
Immunefi, introduced to the world by Mitchell Amador in 2020, is a high-ranking platform within the realm of cryptocurrency bug-bounty operations. This dynamic initiative brings white hat hackers into play, hosting contests that allow them to unearth flaws in various blockchain projects and their corresponding smart contracts.
Cybersecurity wizards set their sights on pinpointing inaccuracies and shortcomings that might become a fertile ground for ill-intentioned actors. In tandem with the team behind the compromised software, they embark on fixing its coding structure. This collaborative endeavor blocks black hat hackers from manipulating these errors, preserving the project's integrity, ensuring its safety and safeguarding its reputation. For their valuable input, white hat hackers receive monetary rewards.
Immunefi, along with its ethical programmer community, provides a safety net for more than $60 billion. Renowned Web3 corporations like Chainlink, MakerDAO, Wormhole, and SushiSwap place their trust in this platform. As a whole, around 300 cryptocurrency initiatives receive support from the platform.
Owing to Immunefi's Bug Bounty drive, nearly $25 billion has been shielded from potential theft. Managers of decentralized applications can partake in consultations via the Immunefi platform to submit their projects for evaluation by programmers.
Immunefi, along with its ethical programmer community, provides a safety net for more than $60 billion. Renowned Web3 corporations like Chainlink, MakerDAO, Wormhole, and SushiSwap place their trust in this platform. As a whole, around 300 cryptocurrency initiatives receive support from the platform.
Owing to Immunefi's Bug Bounty drive, nearly $25 billion has been shielded from potential theft. Managers of decentralized applications can partake in consultations via the Immunefi platform to submit their projects for evaluation by programmers.
So, how much do Immunefi's white hat hackers take home?
Since its advent, Immunefi has dished out more than $80 million to its white hat hackers. The remuneration hinges on the complexity of the task at hand and the nature of the unearthed vulnerability. The more grave the identified issue, the more substantial the earning potential. A broad spectrum of experts scrutinize a single blockchain project simultaneously, sparking healthy competition and accelerating the discovery of the flaws.
The leaderboard of the largest payouts for the disclosure of potential exploits reads as follows:
- A payout of $10 million was awarded to a white hat hacker who uncovered a crucial fault in the Wormhole cross-chain bridge program;
- A sum of $6 million was given for spotting 'holes' in the Aurora blockchain code;
- $2.2 million was handed over for identifying a vulnerability in the Polygon blockchain platform;
- A programmer who found a hitch in Optimism's blockchain walked away with $2 million.
Immunefi's Disclosures on Cryptocurrency Sector Losses
Immunefi doesn't just serve as a hub where white hat hackers and blockchain projects collaborate to build a secure Web3 ecosystem. It also churns out comprehensive reports. One particular category of reports produced by Immunefi relates to cryptocurrency losses, allowing a thorough review of the sector's losses dating back to 2021.
The most recent report, encapsulating the second quarter of 2023, has been published.
According to Immunefi's assessment, Web3 projects experienced losses of $265.4 million during the first half of the year, of which $44.9 million was due to fraud, not breaches. Interestingly, this number represents a 60.4% decrease compared to the same period in 2022.
In the second quarter of 2023, the companies with the largest losses included:
- Atomic Wallet ($100 million)
- Fintoch ($31.6 million)
- Ethereum MEV bots ($25 million)
- Bitrue ($23 million)
- GDAC ($14 million)
- Yearn Finance ($11.6 million)
- Jimbos Protocol ($7.5 million)
- Hundred Finance ($7.4 million)
- Deus Finance ($6.38 million)
- Terraport Finance ($4 million)
Atomic Wallet and Fintoch exploits constituted nearly half - 49.6% of the total losses.
DeFi applications continue to be the main focus for hackers. While losses attributed to centralized finance represented just 13.9% of the total, decentralized losses hit a substantial 86.1%. The most affected blockchains in the first six months of 2023 were BNB Chain and Ethereum.
As noted by Immunefi's founder, Rug Pulls have been on the rise recently. This is a type of fraud where a project's liquidity suddenly vanishes on exchanges, causing its token price to plummet to zero due to the founders stealing all funds. Miscreants are inventing fresh tactics to draw investors into doomed blockchain projects. Hence, users need to thoroughly investigate new market participants.
