Hacken

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of research at Zilliqa, a next-generation L1 blockchain network.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Hacken?

We needed help auditing the smart contracts of the delegated staking contracts designed and built for Zilliqa 2.0, our new PoS blockchain.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Hacken audited all the smart contracts in the public repository. The team also ran a 30-day bug bounty program. The contracts implemented two variants of delegated staking: a liquid staking and a traditional pooled staking where delegators could claim their share of the rewards directly.

What is the team composition?

I worked with 4–5 teammates from Hacken, depending on the project phase.

How did you come to work with Hacken?

Hacken reached out and offered their smart contract auditing services. Their offering comprised synergies such as operating a validator node securing the network and using its staking rewards to cover services improving the security of the network. The combination of a traditional smart contract audit and a bug bounty program (Dual Defense) sounded compelling.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March–June 2025.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Hacken delivered an audit report. The audit findings were classified by severity, and the bug hunters' findings were measurable outcomes. The team fixed all of them and retested them to confirm they were successfully resolved. We found 13 issues in total: four medium, three low, and six observations. We didn't find any high-severity or critical vulnerabilities.

Overall, the smart contracts that controlled most of the staked ZIL — approximately 25% of the ZIL token supply — were more robust and efficient in terms of gas usage. We measured the improvement in gas usage after the audit and fixes were implemented by generating gas reports for the critical test cases using Foundry before and after the fixes were implemented.

How did Hacken perform from a project management standpoint?

The project was well-structured from the beginning. We appreciated the flexibility of the Hacken team, who adjusted their timeline to our team's availability and the faster progress of fixing the findings later on. We used Slack to discuss and Hacken's online portal to manage the findings. We also had a call almost every week to walk through the findings and the solutions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

All the Hacken employees I worked with were skilled professionals. They grasped the complex logic of the contracts very quickly. Their analysis was thorough, and their findings were spot on. I was impressed by how quickly the auditors understood even the most complex parts of the contracts only by reading the code and the inline comments. There was no need for lengthy explanations or clarifications.

Are there any areas they could improve?

During the bug bounty program, most of the hunters claimed to have found vulnerabilities but didn't provide proof of concept to illustrate their findings. We spent a lot of time implementing the tests that they should have provided.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Soda Labs

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Developing a cryptographic technology to enable computation on encrypted data, solving on-chain privacy for Web3

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Hacken to accomplish?

• Review our docs and our source code to raise our attention to potential security issues

SOLUTION

How did you find Hacken?

Referral

Why did you select Hacken over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Hacken were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Security audit of a new type of blockchain, called gcEVM, which is privacy preserving.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

A detailed report showing a deep dive to our code and understanding our architecture.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Delivery on time and with dedication. High quality. Very responsive, and good communication.

What was your primary form of communication with Hacken?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They were always available for us, they we're open to process things not necessarily in the strict standard way, which was very convenient for us.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Hacken could have done differently?

Nothing comes to mind. It was a pleasure working with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Product Delivery of Mina Foundation

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Blckchain Foundation

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Hacken to accomplish?

• Zero Knowledge adoption

SOLUTION

How did you find Hacken?

Online Search

Why did you select Hacken over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Hacken were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Security audit of Mina's Attestation Library.

Mina Attestations is a TypeScript library that leverages o1js to implement private attestations:
a cryptographic protocol that allows you to selectively disclose facts about yourself, using
zero-knowledge proofs. It facilitates the issuance of credentials and the creation and
verification of presentations, ensuring attributes can be proven without revealing underlying
data.
The library supports integration with crypto wallets and provides robust security features,
including ownership binding, unforgeability, privacy, unlinkability, and context-binding.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Publish an audit report of findings

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

• Super responsive and pro-active in engagement
• Professional tracking and communication around any open issues
• Delivered comprehensive report on time and on budget

What was your primary form of communication with Hacken?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their  project and audit management tooling was top notch and added a hige amount of clarity to the process.
Their team is extremely helpful, responsive, and excellent to work with

Are there any areas for improvement or something Hacken could have done differently?

Not that I can think of

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Senior Project Manager of a blockchain development company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Blockchain development

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Hacken to accomplish?

• Security audit of bridge

SOLUTION

How did you find Hacken?

Online Search

Why did you select Hacken over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Hacken were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Bridge security audit

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The bridge audit report concluded with all security flaws, which helped ensure a successful project launch.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Everything went smoothly and on time

What was your primary form of communication with Hacken?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Proactiveness 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Hacken could have done differently?

Nothing as of now

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Engineering of SMART VALOR

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Smart Valor is a Switzerland-based Web3 AI company established in 2017. It provides cryptocurrency AI market intelligence solutions and a fully regulated and compliant crypto investment platform for retail and banks.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Hacken to accomplish?

• Solidity Smart Contract audit

SOLUTION

How did you find Hacken?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Hacken over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Hacken were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We had a great experience working with Hacken. Their team is highly professional, providing fast and insightful feedback throughout the process. The audit was thorough and high-quality, with detailed feedback that helped us strengthen our security. Communication was seamless, and both technical and account management teams were always responsive to our needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Vulnerabilities Identified and Remediated
• Compliance with Standards

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Items were delivered on time! HACKEN team always in touch and provide rapid replies to any of our questions. 

What was your primary form of communication with Hacken?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Professional team! Great communication!

Are there any areas for improvement or something Hacken could have done differently?

All good!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Protocol Engineering of Covalent

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Blockchain data provider with decentralization and data provisioning API endpoints as-a-service. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Hacken to accomplish?

• Find issues with smart contract code
• Find conflicts with specification compared to actual implementation
• Increase security and validate end-user experience goals

SOLUTION

How did you find Hacken?

Met at a Conference

Why did you select Hacken over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Hacken were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Audit smart contract code for new protocol with regards to light client development for Data availablity sampling using rental NFTs as mechanism to associate work done in the network against rewards on-chain. Called the Ethereum Wayback Machine, these light clients operator-controller NFT contracts, enable NFT claim/mint, Light Client registration/delegation, rewards calculation and redemption on any EVM chain based on the ERC4907 non-transferrable "rental-nft" standard. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Report was delivered post hacken suggested issues and fixes. Report publised on the website and also used in socials for engaging the community. Further ways of community audits are being explored.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Timelines were crisp and clear. Everyone adhered to them as stated and we had a clear version of what was happening in the timeline on the hacken portal.

What was your primary form of communication with Hacken?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their depth of understanding and quality of reviews are outstanding.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Hacken could have done differently?

Keep up the great work! 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder of Predexyo

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Blockchain tech and software solutions

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Hacken to accomplish?

• smart contract audit
• improving efficiency of our protocol

SOLUTION

How did you find Hacken?

Token2049 Dubai

Why did you select Hacken over others?

• High ratings
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Hacken were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Solidity Code Review Services

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

constant communication between teams to track issues and review code

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes

What was your primary form of communication with Hacken?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their communication process and issues tracking were very easy and straightforward

Are there any areas for improvement or something Hacken could have done differently?

discuss different payment plan instead of 100% upfront payment

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CISO of 21X AG

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

21X AG

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Hacken to accomplish?
Secure our smart contracts before Go-Live

SOLUTION

How did you find Hacken?

Referral

Why did you select Hacken over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Hacken were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

3 smart contracts with 3700 lines of code for Polygon

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Yes, we did discover quite some items which had been findings or are things that work as designed but are reviewed once more in order to mitigate them properly

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The project management was done well, and everything requested was done on time. 

What was your primary form of communication with Hacken?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

It was nice to see that the testers als had good knowledge on the business functions of the smart contracts and did test them as well

Are there any areas for improvement or something Hacken could have done differently?

as already mentioned in the meeting -  informing earlier upfront, that there are a lot of findings to come at the last day of the audit in the Hacken portal, especially for internal communication with management

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Strategic Advisor of Aerobloc

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Bringing the internet to the trillion dollar aviation industry with decentralisation and AI technologies

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Hacken to accomplish?

• Audit 4 of our smart contracts

SOLUTION

How did you find Hacken?

Their reputation preceeds them

Why did you select Hacken over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Hacken were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Review of our smart contracts to find any vulnerabilities in the code for our staking contact, treasury contract, utility Token ($AERRO) and our first Real World Application ("RWAp") smart contract for airport costs (primarily landing charges)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Clean audit

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

From the initial discussion to the conclusion and publication of the audit report all of the team members we interacted with were very professional and knew their business. It was a pleasure to work with them. I realise I am saying this about auditors.... but really, they were great

What was your primary form of communication with Hacken?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

It is a well run business, very efficient and they do what they say they will do within the agreed timeframe. They talk the talk and walk the walk.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Hacken could have done differently?

No, Hacken was at the top of their game.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Obligate AG

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We issue debt securities on blockchain to allow corporates to raise funds while investors get yield.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Hacken to accomplish?

• Audit smart contract for security vulnerabilities

SOLUTION

How did you find Hacken?

Online Search

Why did you select Hacken over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Other

How many teammates from Hacken were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• The provider was supposed to thoroughly review the smart contract for vulnerabilities.
• Deliverable was a report with findings that we would remedy with final report issued once fixes have concluded.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Found issues that took clear care and attention to detail to find. Dedication to resolving issues properly even in short timeline.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They were very responsive and everything was exactly on time.

What was your primary form of communication with Hacken?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Timeliness and attention to detail.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Hacken could have done differently?

Issues all came at the end in one go. Would have preferred to have been notified when they came up. Got confirmation that this has already changed for projects after ours which is good.