We’re already moving fast through the new year, but we wanted to take a moment to look back a bit on what our awesome community of Wardens accomplished last year — and peek ahead at what you can all look forward to coming from Code4rena soon.
Code4rena 2023: An Audit
Community
The Code4rena Warden community boomed last year, growing more than double than in 2022. Not only that, but many Wardens hit a very important milestone in their auditing career — of the 1323 Wardens who earned a prize last year, 927 were first-timers.
We’re excited that so many security-minded individuals signed up to hunt for vulnerabilities, earn rewards, and make the Web3 ecosystem more secure.
We’re also thrilled that our community had the chance to come together a lot in 2023, virtually and in person.
Our Office Hours Twitter spaces, hosted by Alex the Entreprenerd, hosted hundreds of Wardens eager to learn more about the industry and how to audit more efficiently. And information sessions like the Code4rena x Starknet Basecamp got many Wardens started with the fundamentals of Smart Contracts outside of Solidity.
Plus, we were able to meet many Wardens irl at events around the world — like our Istanbullish Happy Hour with Badger and TempleDAO.
Platform
It wasn’t just the community that grew last year. The Code4rena platform had some big updates, bringing new features that made it faster and easier to earn money auditing. Take a look at some of the things we launched in 2023:
Bot Races
Bot Crews compete to see whose automated bot can create the highest quality and most thorough audit report — and win a share of the audit competition prize pool as a result.
Bot Races heavily reduce the number of duplicate submissions made to Code4rena competitions, thereby removing clutter that would otherwise take up Lookout, Judge and Project time. It also means that the majority of duplicates to be awarded will decrease, and a larger portion of the pool can be given to more unique and useful findings!
Read the original blog post to learn more.
Warden Profiles
Providing auditors with a single place where they can highlight past work, celebrate wins, and take on solo auditing opportunities.
We wanted to give auditors the ability to showcase their strengths, experience, and performance. Plus, projects deserve a trusted, objective way to review researchers’ track records. Code4rena Profiles addressed both needs, while empowering auditors to leverage their best work to support their careers.
See what else can be added to your profile.
Bug Bounties & Code4rena Blue
Combines competitive bounties, independent judging, and dedicated defense teams into an elevated bug bounty model that solves the shortcomings of traditional models.
The bug bounty launch came alongside the announcement of Code4rena Blue Teams. These teams of experts are assigned by Code4rena, and have the knowledge needed to validate bugs and provide proofs of concept of bug reports to the platform they are dedicated to.
Check out the full details here.
And More…
Details on our upgraded Warden Dashboard, new approaches to Test Coverage, and all our other launches can be found on our blog.
We’re excited to keep building on these features — and more — in 2024.
Audits
Wardens new and tenured had a lot of opportunities to earn rewards this year, with over 966 total days of contests available.
In total, the 114 projects audited this year resulted in 31,512 bug submissions. And those submissions had a big impact on the overall security of the Web3 landscape — 4003 of those submissions were assessed as Medium vulns, and 3005 were assessed as High.
This relentless pursuit of security excellence is what sets the Code4rena community apart. We’re super proud of all the Wardens who helped make Code4rena audits the best choice for security.
Rewards
Of course, it isn’t just bragging rights that Wardens are competing for…
In 2023, a grand total of $4,823,059 was awarded to the Code4rena Warden community. That includes $2,604,054 awarded for Mediums, and $1,586,018 for Highs!
The highest single payout to a Warden was an incredible $71,500.
There are many more contests and awards to come, so be ready to track down vulns!
What’s Next
As we move into 2024, we’re looking forward to expanding on some of the features we’ve already launched.
Teams
Teams have always been a core part of the Code4rena approach — the ethos that security is a collaborative, community effort is at the forefront of everything we do.
In 2023, we continued to support the creation and management of Teams on Code4rena with features like Team Profiles, Blue Teams and Team Captains.
We’re looking forward to bringing even more opportunities for teams in 2024. Stay tuned!
Events
We’ll be attending and putting on more events in 2024 — both virtually and irl.
Keep an eye out for more educational sessions like the Starknet Basecamp for opportunities to hone your skills.
Follow us on social to hear about events we’re hosting at conventions around the world.
And More…
The year is just getting started and it’s already looking bullish. There’s much more to come from Code4rena in 2024!
