Binance Labs-funded 1inch partners with Hacken to tackle DeFi security

Decentralized crypto-exchange 1inch announced today that it is collaborating with cybersecurity solutions provider Hacken to improve the platform’s security by auditing its code, APIs, and infrastructure. According to the press release, the Hacken team would focus particularly on serving as a cryptocurrency exchange auditor. Hacken was previously in the news after it announced its integration with Chainlink’s “decentralized” oracles, a development that would allow it to make data more accessible to decentralized apps (dApps).

According to Crunchbase, 1inch raised 2.8M in a seed round a few months ago, a seed round that saw investments from the likes of DragonFly Capital, FTX exchange, and Binance Labs.

This is a crucial announcement since assets locked in DeFi projects are running into billions right now. And, a lot of these protocols don’t have proper audits. Further, as the Hacken team said, there are anonymous developers and yield farming spinoffs that are driving speculation “without regard for security.”

The collaboration between Hacken and the 1inch DEX implies that certain sections of the DeFi industry could now be maturing with respect to increasing transparency. Moreover, this move could benefit the average user who, in real-time, would not be able to access information on DEX security.  

This development comes after several DeFi platforms came under attack from hackers. One such protocol, Opyn, was attacked by hackers who then stole users’ funds. Meanwhile, even DeFi protocol LendF lost $25 million as a result of a hack. More recently, KuCoin hackers leveraged DeFi platform Uniswap to swap several ERC-20 tokens. In most of these aforementioned cases, the code was at fault and was taken advantage of due to its unaudited nature. 

According to the Co-founder and CEO of 1inch, Sergej Kunz, the partnership with Hacken would enable them to take security “to a complete new level,” especially in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. 

Apart from 1inch, other networks like the Ethereum-powered DEX Airswap have also ordered a third-party audit of their smart contracts.