CertiK, the international provider of smart contract and blockchain security, has released its latest report on the state of security in Web3 for Q1 2022.
The report provides insights into the future of Web3 following the “greatest” losses in existence, closing out a surge in growth from last year, as well as industry-wide trends and pain points where hackers “infiltrated” the world of Web3.
The report reveals the top industry statistics and takeaways, including:
- Web3 is bleeding – Q1 2022 losses from exploits are up more than 8x from Q1 2021, setting 2022 on the fast track to being the most expensive year for Web3 ever.
- Hackers took advantage of weak bridges – The top three most lucrative attacks this quarter targeted cross-chain bridges, which enabled the transfer of crypto between blockchains. Ronin, Wormhole, and Qubit Finance suffered from burned bridges.
- CBDCs are gaining global interest – Over 90% of the global GDP is exploring a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and additional regulations are expected to follow.
- Expected in tandem with regulatory guidelines are forms of KYC and AML checks to maintain verification standards.
The report’s findings “emphasize the importance of security and showcase the fact that many projects in web3 still have a long way to go to truly prioritize security audits.”
While the framework around web3 has “yet to be solidified, security should be viewed as a necessity in a world where exploits are becoming increasingly more prevalent.”
Regular security audits “need to be at the core of every crypto project.”
You may access the complete CertiK web3 Security Quarterly Report here.
As covered last month, CertiK noted that it only feels like “yesterday” when they were announcing their B2 round of funding, where the firm had been valued at $1 billion.
The blockchain-focused firm also mentioned that just 3 months later, here they are again, and now they are “a $2 billion company.” They are pleased “to bring on a new set of investors, as well as receive continued funding support from existing ones.”
This B3 round of funding was “led by Insight Partners, Tiger Global, and Advent International, with participation from Goldman Sachs and existing investors such as Sequoia and Lightspeed.” This is “the fourth round of capital raised by CertiK in the past nine months, altogether totaling $230 million.”