Ethereum Foundation will launch a hackathon to find vulnerabilities in the blockchain with a prize fund of $2 million

The event is aimed at fixing bugs in the code ahead of the Pectra hardfork

09.07.2024 - 08:25

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Last updated on Aug 6, 2024

What’s new? Ethereum developers will hold the first ever blockchain hackathon. The event, called Attackathon with a $2 million prize pool, will last four weeks, during which participants will search for vulnerabilities in the protocol’s code ahead of the Pectra hardfork. The team notes that the Attackathon will “be the largest crowdsourced security audit” of the blockchain codebase.

Developer announcement

What else is known? According to the Ethereum Protocol Security (EPS) research team, the event will begin with a technical introduction to the blockchain codebase to prepare participants to understand potential vulnerabilities. Rewards will be given for finding the most significant bugs, subject to a compliant report.

At the end of the hackathon, the hackathon’s organizing partner, the vulnerability research platform Immunefi, will collect the results and prepare a report detailing the bugs found.

The Ethereum team has contributed $500 000 to the prize pool, with another $1,5 million from sponsors.

EPS plans to hold similar hackathons before every hardfork involving changes to the codebase. The next Pectra hardfork is expected to take place in late 2024-early 2025. It will combine the Prague and Electra upgrades.

Ethereum developers to conduct Pectra hardfork by Q1 2025

The upgrade will introduce more than a dozen suggestions to improve the network

The most significant changes within the framework of the hardfork will be the introduction of a social recovery function, which will save users from having to memorize a private key of 24 words, as well as giving wallets smart contract functions.

Earlier, the Solana blockchain team, in partnership with Immunefi, also launched a rewards program for finding vulnerabilities ahead of the release of Firedancer, a client-validator designed to improve network throughput and resilience.

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