Ethereum's Inaugural Hackathon to Enhance Protocol Security

Ethereum is gearing up to launch its first-ever hackathon with a prize pool of $2 million, aiming to conduct the largest crowdsourced security audit of its blockchain codebase. The 'Attackathon' will task security researchers with actively seeking vulnerabilities in the protocol's code during a four-week challenge. Only impactful and rule-compliant reports will be rewarded, following specific competition guidelines. The event will kick off with a technical overview of the codebase to prepare participants for identifying potential vulnerabilities. Hosted by bug bounty platform Immunefi, the competition has already received a $500,000 contribution from the Ethereum Protocol Security team, calling for additional sponsors to raise $1.5 million by August 1. Future hackathons are planned for every hard fork to cover codebase changes, with Ethereum's upcoming 'Pectra' hard fork combining 'Prague' and 'Electra' upgrades to introduce new features like a 'social recovery' option. Hackathons and bug bounties are common in the crypto space, with projects offering substantial rewards to incentivize ethical hacking practices.