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Written by
Martin Petkov
Published on
December 20, 2024

Cyfrin’s 2024 Wrapup: Growth, Education, Security Excellence

Cyfrin saw significant growth in 2024 doubling the team, securing over $10b in blockchain assets, and educating 200k+ students on smart contract development.

Table of Contents

In 2024, we more than doubled our team, protected over $10 billion in blockchain assets through private security audits, and over 200,000 students learned how to develop smart contracts following our courses. 

Our mission to create a secure web3 ecosystem drove unprecedented community growth.

So, let’s start by looking at the highlights. 

The year in numbers

  • Innovation: 4 new products launched
  • Educational impact: 1.5+ million completed lessons across Updraft’s 12 courses
  • Community
    • Discord expanded from 500 to 12,000+ active members
    • Updraft’s community reached 200,000+ members
  • Security achievements:
    • Distributed millions in rewards across 24 competitive audits and 24 first flights
    • Completed 41 private security audits, discovering more than 696 vulnerabilities
  • Content creation
    • Published 80+ educational articles and resources
    • Created and maintained 300+ GitHub repositories
  • Team: More than doubled from <10 to 30+ team members
  • Global reach: Team members now spanning 16 countries worldwide

Now, let’s explore the story of innovation behind these numbers. 

A digital infographic titled "Cyfrin Wrapped 2024" displays key achievements for the year. Highlights include: $40B+ in TVL secured, 12,000+ Discord members, 200,000+ Updraft students, millions distributed in rewards through 24 contests and "First Flights." The company has 30+ team members across 5 continents, 1,500,000+ completed lessons, 4 products launched (Profiles, Updraft, Moccasin, and Aderyn), 696+ bugs found in 41 private audits, 80+ educational articles published, and 300+ GitHub repositories created and maintained.

2024’s major milestones 

February 

Website launch and Cyfrin Updraft’s release 

The year began with the launch of a completely redesigned website, to better reflect Cyfrin’s evolution and growth. This was quickly followed by the public release of Cyfrin Updraft, our industry-leading blockchain education platform, after a successful three-month beta period that saw:

  • 70,000+ applications
  • 11,000+ early-access students
  • 2,000+ pieces of valuable feedback

This enthusiastic response validated our commitment to providing accessible, high-quality blockchain education to developers worldwide.

Screenshot announcing that Cyfrin Updraft is now open, with a focus on teaching the next generation of smart contract developers.

But this was not all.

April

Aderyn static analyzer release 

Smart contract vulnerabilities can be difficult to detect manually. So, in April, we launched Aderyn to help auditors and developers find potential security issues in their Solidity code before deployment. 

Aderyn is an open-sourced Rust-based solidity smart contract static analyzer offering:

  • Lightning-fast command-line analysis
  • A custom detector framework for specific vulnerability types
  • Seamless integration with development workflows
  • Comprehensive markdown-formatted reports
  • Open-source accessibility for community contribution
GitHub interface showing an Aderyn-generated analysis report, a blockchain security tool by Cyfrin, listing high and low issue summaries.

With the solid foundations provided by our platforms and tools, it was time to amplify our impact through collaborations. 

Strategic alliance with Chainlink Labs 

Our collaboration with Chainlink Labs established Cyfrin as a key security provider for Chainlink the BUILD and SCALE projects. This enabled enhanced access to high-quality public and private smart contract audits for projects within the Chainlink ecosystem. Through this collaboration, we're:

  • Providing specialized security services tailored to Chainlink's unique infrastructure
  • Supporting projects building on Chainlink with comprehensive security reviews
  • Offering competitive and private security audits to ecosystem participants
  • Contributing to the overall security posture of one of blockchain's most crucial infrastructure providers
Logos of Cyfrin and Chainlink side by side, indicating a collaboration between the two companies.

We leveraged the momentum of this huge collaboration and followed up with another. 

May

ZKsync partnership 

In May, we partnered with ZKsync, as the main sponsor of Cyfrin Updraft, significantly expanding our support for zero-knowledge-proof technology and Layer 2 scaling solutions. This allowed us to create a comprehensive support system for projects building on ZKsync, combining security expertise with educational resources.

The partnership’s key initiatives include:

  • Specialized security audits for ZKsync projects
  • Custom educational resources for builders
  • Integration of ZKsync-specific content into our courses
  • Custom tooling to support ZK native on-chain Vyper smart contracts deployments
Visual highlighting a partnership between Cyfrin Updraft and zkSync, with various course cards related to blockchain development.


Over the summer, we focused on security. 

July 

CodeHawks V2 launch and Security Audit Summer 

July marked the launch of a completely redesigned CodeHawks, our competitive audit platform. This major update introduced numerous improvements to make the platform more efficient, user-friendly, and effective for auditors and protocols. Key enhancements included:

  • A redesigned user interface to improve navigation and workflow
  • Streamlined competition management tools for easier submission and review processes
  • Enhanced judging system with clearer criteria and faster feedback loops
  • Integration with ZKSync for USDC payments
  • Competitive fee structure that benefits both protocols and auditors
CodeHawks user dashboard showing active contests, including a Chainlink CCIP audit competition with reward details.


The platform launch coincided with "Security Audit Summer," which showed our commitment to identifying and addressing critical security challenges in major protocols. 

And instead of taking August off for a long holiday, we used it for growth. 

August

A superstar joined our team

In August, the master smart contracts and DeFi development educator @ProgrammerSmart joined Cyfrin. As an expert in both languages, he’s the creator of “Solidity by Example” and “Vyper by Example,” which we acquired when he joined. His Curve V1 Stableswap and Uniswap V2 courses are available on Cyfrin Updraft. 

Cartoon frog dressed as a ninja, representing a brand mascot with green eyes and a logo resembling Solidity on its chest.

Then, we followed up with a big collaboration.

Arbitrum DAO whitelisted security auditor

Cyfrin achieved a major milestone by being selected as a whitelisted security auditor for Arbitrum DAO's $2.5M Subsidy Fund. Through this initiative, we are proud to help projects in the Arbitrum ecosystem access top-tier security services.

Logo of the DPC Security Subsidy Fund, with a hexagon design and bold text.

And to wrap up the month, we struck another partnership.

PwC partnership 

Our collaboration with PwC Deutschland is a significant step toward bridging traditional enterprise with blockchain technology. This partnership focuses on:

  • Scaling adoption of secure, compliant blockchain solutions
  • Combining specialized technological expertise with regulatory knowledge
  • Supporting traditional organizations entering the blockchain space
  • Expanding accessibility of specialized blockchain services
Cyfrin and PwC logos together, indicating a collaboration between the blockchain security company and PwC.

Then, we followed up with another collaboration, aiming to make blockchain more secure and widely used. 

September

Sony collaboration

September marked another step toward blockchain's mainstream future through our partnership with Soneium, an innovative Ethereum Layer 2 platform developed by Sony Block Solutions Labs. This collaboration embodies our belief that widespread blockchain adoption requires security built into systems from the start, not added as an afterthought.

Projects building on Soneium receive comprehensive security support through:

  • Reserved slots for private security audits when needed
  • Priority access to CodeHawks competitive audits
  • Direct communication with our lead security researchers
  • Round-the-clock support for security concerns          


But there was more to come in September.

Optimism Superchain partnership

Cyfrin partnered with Optimism’s Superchain to provide top-tier security services for its ecosystem of L2 builders. Through this collaboration, we offer private audits, priority onboarding, accelerated scheduling, and 24-hour support to help secure the Superchain's vision of scalable, decentralized growth. 

Cyfrin and Optimism logos shown together, highlighting a collaboration between the blockchain security firm and the Optimism network.

Superchain focuses on solving scalability and driving mass adoption while we are strengthening protocol security. With our missions aligned, we're making web3 safer and more scalable.

And this leads us to our last major release of the year. 

October

Cyfrin Profiles launch 

In October, we unveiled Cyfrin Profiles, a unique, personalized Cyfrin account that delivers a harmonized experience across the entire Cyfrin ecosystem. More than just a technical update, this innovative feature:

  • Enables seamless navigation between Updraft, CodeHawks, and Solodit
  • Creates a consolidated space for learning, competing, and earning
  • Provides single sign-on functionality across all platforms
  • Showcases user achievements and credentials
  • Improves cross-platform navigation and user experience

On top of that, we have been busy developing and releasing the best blockchain development and security courses.

Updraft course launches

Following the official launch of Updraft in February, we released a total of 9 courses throughout the year:

  1. Blockchain Basics covers fundamentals, wallets, gas concepts, and signing transactions.

  2. Solidity Smart Contract Development helps developers learn Solidity programming, smart contract development, and gas optimization techniques.

  3. Assembly and Formal Verification teaches developers Assembly, Yul, and formal verification techniques to optimize and secure smart contracts.

  4. Smart Contract DevOps focuses on post-deployment security, monitoring, and best practices for wallet access control.

  5. Uniswap V2 is a deep dive into Uniswap V2, covering routers, factories, liquidity pools, swaps, and arbitrage.

  6. Curve Stableswap is an advanced DeFi course on Curve's AMM math, liquidity pools, and implementing swap functions.

  7. Introduction to Python and Vyper teaches the basics of using Vyper and Python to write and deploy smart contracts.

  8. Intermediate Python and Vyper introduces tools like Moccasin, Web3.py, and Titanoboa, and teaches developers how to deploy on ZKsync.

  9. Advanced Python and Vyper focuses on building advanced DeFi solutions, including stablecoins, customized NFTs, and trading algorithms on ZKsync.

And true to our mission of making web3 safer, we also delivered a year of excellence in blockchain security. 

Private and competitive audits

Private audits remain the most reliable way to enhance security, and we completed 41 in 2024. We helped secure over $10 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL) across multiple blockchain ecosystems and protocols, representing approximately 7% of the entire Decentralized Finance (DeFi) TVL as of this writing. Moreover, we’re proud to be a trusted auditor of leading Tier 1 protocols, including ZKsync, Chainlink, Wormhole, Securitize, Lido, Starknet, and Ethena.  

Through these audits, we discovered more than 696 vulnerabilities, including 32 critical, 52 high, 115 medium, 157 low, 197 informational, and 145 gas-related issues. Each vulnerability we identified and addressed strengthened the security posture of the protocols we worked with, helping protect protocols and increase user trust in web3. 

Auditors earned millions in rewards across 24 competitive audits on CodeHawks. The top 10 security researchers on our leaderboard have earned nearly $450,000 in rewards. 

CodeHawks' leaderboard displaying the top 10 users ranked by earnings.

Conclusion

2024 has been a transformative year for Cyfrin, marked by substantial growth, innovative product launches, and strategic partnerships. From our early-year release of Updraft to the launch of our Profiles, each milestone has contributed to our mission of strengthening blockchain security and advancing developer education.

We're thankful to our community, partners, and team members who contributed to this remarkable year of achievement. Together, we're building a safer, more secure blockchain ecosystem.

The foundations we've laid this year set the stage for even greater impact in 2025. Thank you for being part of our journey. Here's to another year of innovation, growth, and excellence!

We’re all fired up and ready to go, and next year is shaping up to deliver more! Here’s a sneak peek into our plans for next year. 

Our 2025 vision

We remain committed to creating a secure, transparent, on-chain environment for everyone. Our focus will be on:

  • Expanding educational opportunities through modular career tracks 
  • Enhancing career development tools and resources
  • Strengthening our security audit and research capabilities
  • Building more robust developer communities and support systems
  • Advancing blockchain security standards industry-wide

With these guiding priorities, we aim to empower the next generation of Blockchain and smart contract engineers and set new standards for security, education, and community in 2025 and beyond.

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