TLDR: Firewall is building the security layer for Web3, including the Safe Sequencer and its modular components that mitigate smart contract hacks before they impact users. Today, we are releasing the core of the Safe Sequencer—the Firewall EVM—to select community members, security partners and rollup developers. If you or your team would like to join the Firewall EVM Closed Alpha and contribute to the security of the Ethereum ecosystem, email ecosystem@usefirewall.com or submit your interest here.
We’re embarking on a mission to eliminate smart contract exploits from your favorite blockchain.
It’s no secret—Web3 has an exploit problem. In 2023, ~$1.7B was lost to hacks, roughly equivalent to 3.4% of all assets held in DeFi smart contracts at the time*. Stolen funds are irreparably harmful to individual users, Web3 communities and the protocols that power them. Unfortunately, damage spreads beyond the individual victims, with illicit funds often funneled to rogue states and terrorist groups.
If we allow theft to continue unabated, it will force a heavy-handed regulatory response from governments in a manner that is likely to cripple innovation in our industry. Existing security solutions offer only marginal improvements and do not address the issue holistically. The mainstream adoption of cryptonetworks is in danger without a radically new approach to user safety—one that empowers rollups to completely mitigate smart contract exploits without sacrificing credible neutrality or user experience.
That’s why we’re reimagining security for Web3 with a system consisting of three main components. The first and primary component, the Safe Sequencer, leverages machine learning and pattern recognition to eliminate smart contract exploits on rollups in a verifiable way. The Safe Sequencer represents a paradigm shift in blockchain security that honors the principles of decentralization, trustlessness and transparency that make Web3 unique.
At the nucleus of the Safe Sequencer lies the Firewall EVM. The Firewall EVM builds on top of REVM and the amazing work of Dragan Rakita and Paradigm. As malicious actions are detected by the EVM, affected transactions are prevented from being included during the block building process. Easily integrating with any tools leveraging REVM, the Firewall EVM facilitates exploit blocking and rejects malicious transactions before they harm users—all with speed, simplicity and composability developers will come to love.
The third component of the Firewall Security Layer is a novel consensus mechanism called Proof of Exploit (PoE) Consensus that leverages zero knowledge proofs and a new exploit classification standard to cryptographically verify whether the Safe Sequencer and Firewall EVM are functioning properly and reliably. PoE Consensus and its underlying exploit classification standard will ensure the Firewall system transparently operates in a way that aligns with the values of Ethereum and Web3.
The Road to Zero Exploits
Firewall’s multiyear vision builds on and coordinates with existing solutions such as incident response (IR). The Safe Sequencer, the Firewall EVM and the Proof of Exploit Consensus mechanism have been thoughtfully designed from first principles to create a holistic onchain system that, once fully mature, will make smart contract exploits a thing of the past.
We have a lot of work ahead of us but the destination is clear. We’re thrilled to share this high-level roadmap that will place cryptonetworks on a path towards zero smart contract exploits.
Join the Firewall EVM Closed Alpha
Today, marking our first milestone on the road to zero smart contract exploits, we are opening up the Firewall EVM to select community members, security partners and rollup developers in a Closed Alpha release that initially combats re-rentrancy attacks, with additional exploit coverage rolling out incrementally over the coming months. If you or your team would like to participate in the Firewall EVM Closed Alpha and contribute to the security of the Ethereum ecosystem, email ecosystem@usefirewall.com or submit your interest here.
About Firewall
Firewall’s mission is to establish the next generation of the Internet by eliminating smart contract exploits before they impact rollups and their users. As the creators of the Firewall Safe Sequencer, Firewall EVM and Firewall Proof of Exploit (PoE) Consensus, we’re setting a new standard for blockchain security. Firewall is composed of crypto natives, AI/ML wizards, world-class engineers and accomplished business operators. We are at the forefront of advancing Ethereum’s security and user safety, with a particular emphasis on building solutions that are meaningfully decentralized, open and permissionless.
We’ve raised a $3.7M pre-seed round backed by North Island Ventures, Breyer Capital and Hack VC with participation from Finality Capital, Bodhi Ventures and angels including Yaoqi Jia (AltLayer), Smokey The Bera (Berachain), Tim Ogilvie (Staked), Nathan McCauley (Anchorage Digital), Xinshu Dong (Babylon), Jack Lu (BounceBit) and Pranay Mohan (Nomad).
Our team is growing fast and we’re looking for talented individuals to join us. If you think you’d be a good fit, view our job openings here.
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