Uniswap v4 launches the largest bug bounty in history – A new era of millionaire bug bounty hunters

Uniswap has announced the largest offer to non-malicious hackers who discover vulnerabilities in its latest protocol. In their x post, they stated, “We’re rewarding up to $15.5M to anyone that finds a critical vulnerability in v4 core contracts.”

Uniswap, one of the biggest decentralized exchanges, promises to pay $15.5 million to anyone who can discover flaws in the most recent version of its namesake system. The scale of the reward—which the business claims to be the largest-ever so-called “bug bounty”—is meant to guarantee the most secure newest generation of the protocol, known as Uniswap v4.

The aim of bug bounty programs, which are frequently implemented in the tech sector, is to motivate nonmalicious hackers, also referred to as “white hats,” to identify vulnerabilities in computer code before the malicious ones do.

Uniswap’s bug bounty program

According to official reports, the program only fixes bugs in the Uniswap v4 core contracts. It doesn’t cover “third party contracts that were not deployed by Uniswap Labs, issues already listed in the audits for the contracts in the v4 repository, bugs in third party contracts or applications that use contracts deployed by Uniswap Labs, or issues that were known internally.”

However, not all effective hackers will receive $15.5 million. Based on a risk assessment, each bug is classified into a tier, which determines the payouts. The reward for the discovery of a “critical” flaw is $15.5 million, while a “high”-risk bug is awarded $1 million and a “medium”-risk bug is awarded $100,000.

According to the report, there is a condition that Bugs should be reported within 24 hours of discovery. They should also be confidential until the issue is resolved in order to qualify for the reward.

Uniswap v4 and related security developments

Launched in 2021, Uniswap v4 improves on v3 and aims to facilitate more affordable and customizable trades. 

The company stated in a statement that the latest version of the protocol has undergone several security tests. One of them was nine independent audits and a $2.35 million security competition in which 500 researchers participated. The company reported that no serious vulnerabilities were identified.

Uniswap is taking this additional step to ensure that the protocol is theft-proof. The reason behind it is that it handles billions of dollars worth of volume every day. It also cannot be altered once it is set up, despite the fact that v4’s security has been repeatedly evaluated.

Hayden Adams, CEO of Uniswap Labs, said, “The Uniswap protocol serves as critical infrastructure for DeFi and has secured over $2.5 trillion in trading volume, and v4 introduces limitless customization,” He added, “This $15.5 million bug bounty is the largest in history, reflecting our commitment to building secure smart contracts for all the users and developers building on top.”

The History of tech bounties

Bounties have been present since the 1980s. They began when a software business named Hunter and Ready offered a Volkswagen Beetle, sometimes known as a “bug,” to anyone who could uncover a vulnerability in its operating system. 

These kinds of programs began to be operational, especially in tech programs. Large bounties have gained a lot of popularity. Governments began to use them, including the United States of America.

The crypto industry has had its share of hack cases. Malicious hackers like the Lazarus group have taken advantage of tech programs. Bugs that offer huge amounts of money are, therefore, effective in bringing together hackers worldwide to try some of the most important programs.

In 2023, a $15 million bug called Layer Zero, a cross-chain messaging protocol, was discovered. Therefore, Uniswap chose to make the award $15.5 million to beat it and lead chats.

The current price tag put on crypto bug bounties ushers in a new dawn for white hats and investigative sleuths like ZachXBT. This comes amid the crypto market growth that has ushered in one of the most profitable bull runs in fintech industries.

According to on-chain data from CoinGecko, the global crypto market cap stands at $3.35 trillion today, down 4.25% in the last 24 hours. As of today, Bitcoin’s (BTC) market cap sits at $1.86 trillion, signifying a 55.41% domination. Meanwhile, stablecoins’ market cap stands at $200 billion, accounting for 5.96% of the total crypto market cap.

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