![Add a heading 1.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/eZWQsGQ.jpg)
# Do Bug Bounty's Prevent Hacks? 
If you have been around Blockchain long enough you would have seen more and more protocols offering Bug Bounty's, in short payment for reporting code weaknesses that can lead to exploitation and loss of significant funds. 

Rewards are quite impressive and many blockchains run continuous and open programs such as the [Ethereum Bug Bounty](https://ethereum.org/en/bug-bounty/#:~:text=The%20bug%20bounty%20program%20is,It%20is%20not%20a%20competition.) which has a leader board for top reporters whom are awarded points and also payment in Ethereum or Dai. Depending on the vulnerability found is how many points you get awarded. 

![bug bountie.JPG](https://i.imgur.com/JbdsSmB.jpg) 
[Image Source](https://ethereum.org/en/bug-bounty/#:~:text=The%20bug%20bounty%20program%20is,It%20is%20not%20a%20competition.)

These initiatives have proven to be quite fruitful for project operators as they provide an incentive for hackers to hand over exploit data and get paid. You might be thinking why would a hacker inform someone for a bounty and not just steal money? 

This is a really valid point and if we rewind to just a few years ago this used to happen a lot. However, what we are finding is more and more exchanges are becoming more anti theft and when a hack occurs blacklist wallets and track them so when they transfer the tokens to another wallet they can not be withdrawn or exchanged for another cryptocurrency. 

![Add a heading 2.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/TAkfaYJ.jpg)
### Law enforcement becomes more modern 

On top of the exchange networks and other blockchains becoming more security aware and taking action [law enforcement cyber crimes](https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en-us/posts/investigation-fraud-and-risk/cryptocurrency-financial-crime/) are upping their arsenal to track down online financial crime. 

So the chances of pulling off a heist and getting away with it these days are getting harder. Even the most recent Osmosis exploit people were talking about freezing the assets and wallet of the accounts that utilised the liquidity exploit. 

![ethereum bug.JPG](https://i.imgur.com/osQZCko.jpg)
[Image Source](https://twitter.com/auroraisnear/status/1534169798690557952?s=20&t=xdePi6sHa7u3ODVeW0kR6A)

Most recently a bug located on Aurora which had the potential to exploit [$US200 Million in Funds](https://twitter.com/auroraisnear/status/1534169798690557952?s=20&t=xdePi6sHa7u3ODVeW0kR6A) through allowing people to mint synthetic Ethereum through an inflation weakness which would have been tradable had been prevented by offering a reward system. 

Due to the severity of the weakness the person who found the weakness was awarded [$US6 Million Dollars ](https://cryptonews.com.au/whitehat-hacker-paid-6-million-after-preventing-330-million-hack) which they are free to use however. Instead of hacking the protocol for $US200 Million of Ethereum and then trying to figure out how to get it out of the network potentially exposing themselves withdrawing to fiat. They are now free to do as they please, one can do a lot with $US6 Million dollars. 

This isn't the first with [Optimism paying out $US2 Million](https://cryptonews.com.au/white-hat-hacker-chooses-2-million-bug-bounty-over-printing) for a similar bug find that could have resulted in further Ethereum being stolen. 

![Polygon.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/0QOmAQE.jpg)
[Image Source](https://cryptonews.com.au/ethereum-sidechain-project-polygon-hard-forked-after-critical)

A security risk that was identified through the bug bounty program also resulted in the [Polygon network hard fork](https://cryptonews.com.au/ethereum-sidechain-project-polygon-hard-forked-after-critical) which, had it not been for the program could have completely destroyed Polygon and removed them from operation. 

**Have you participated in a bug bounty and been awarded a reward? I would love to know more**

*Image sources provided supplemented with Canva Pro subscription. This is not financial advice and readers are advised to undertake their own research or seek professional financial services*

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