Red4Sec Begins 3rd Party Code Audit of the FLOW Protocol
As many of you are aware, The Focus Group recently announced a security audit of the FLOW protocol smart contract (github repo can be found here). A handful of you rockstars even donated to help fund it. Our amazing community raised $1000 in the FLOW telegram group in less than 2 hours!
[Note: For contractual reasons we cannot disclose the full cost of the audit]
We’re happy to report that one of the top security firms in the industry — Red4Sec — has received payment and will begin work shortly. Red4Sec has a whole host of notable blockchain clients and partnerships, including Neo, Nano, TenX and more. We encourage you to check them out at: https://red4sec.com.
Most savvy DeFi aficionado’s know how valuable a code audit is for a blockchain project. But some folks aren’t clear on why it’s so important. So, for those still learning about how this all works, here’s the top 3 reasons we decided to prioritize a 3rd party code audit:
#1. Trust & Confidence
By far the top reason to do a code audit is trust.
The popularity of DeFi projects has exploded in 2020. But, like the ICO craze that came before it, not all projects have been designed for the best interests of token holders. There have been a number of “rugpulls” in DeFi, lately. That’s where a project is hyped to the moon and then the creator(s) dump their holdings on the market, often through some vulnerability in the smart contract that allows them to do things like mint more tokens for themselves.
Sometimes it’s a matter of poorly written code. Some projects have failed in spectacular (and embarrassing) fashion simply because the developer made critical mistakes in the smart contract.
FLOW’s creator, Morpheus, has already taken steps to assure holders that the FLOW protocol does exactly what it’s intended to do, and nothing else. For one thing, he locked up his own tokens for 6 months from the launch date (his tokens unlock in February 2021).
A security audit will independently verify this and check for other “back doors” and critical vulnerabilities, ensuring there’s no way for Morpheus or anyone else to create illegitimate new tokens or otherwise compromise the FLOW smart contract
#2. Exchange Listings
Many top exchanges require a code audit to be considered for listing on their platforms. This, along with a formal legal opinion (in the works), is an important step towards giving FLOW exposure to more markets, which serves one of our most important objectives — broad, fair distribution.
#3. DeFi Integrations
There’s been some angst in the community about why FLOW has yet to be listed on any DeFi platforms. The frustrating answer is that most of these platforms are either sketchy, demand a large listing fee, or both.
We understand the angst. We’re as excited as anyone to give FLOW more utility and holders more ways to earn a ROI. After all, we’re holders too! But we also have every intention of aligning ourselves with *legitimate* projects, while avoiding shady/short-sighted projects like the plague.
Like top tier exchanges, we expect legitimate DeFi platforms to have high expectations of code security and project integrity. So this should be another degree of comfort for them, and for our community.
Going Forward
We’ve still got several other pieces of the puzzle in the works over the coming weeks, including:
-Major improvements to the whitepaper (and translations to Korean, Mandarin, and Russian)
-Website and Liquidity Mining app updates (going live soon)
-Explainer Video (Community member NickH is working on the animations now. Thanks Nick!)
-And more…
While other DeFi projects are falling apart, we’re taking steps to strengthen our foundation.
We hope that an official third party audit is seen as a major step in proving not only the project’s legitimacy, but that FLOW is here to stay.
MAJOR gratitude goes out to all who contributed, and for all of you who are with us on the journey.
We’re just getting flowing. ;)
