Protecting 100 Arbitrum Projects for the Cost of One Audit
Call To Action
Arbitrum’s groundbreaking $10M audit program represents the largest security initiative in DAO history, providing crucial subsidies for security assessments that typically cost $50-200K. This establishes a foundation that will only strengthen the ecosystem.
However, structural limitations leave some critical gaps in the initiative.
Timeline Reality: Respected firms have months-long waitlists. Projects cannot pause development for 6-8 weeks awaiting the results of code reviews. Innovation continues on ahead while security lags behind.
Scale Mismatch: Last year, 276 projects were approved for grants, with an estimated 47 receiving security coverage through the program. This figure does not include potential grantees who failed to secure funding but proceeded to launch on Arbitrum nonetheless. Since the audit program’s inception, 45 submissions have been received, with an approval rate of approximately 12%. This indicates not only a substantial amount of projected annual funding dedicated to ecosystem development but also that many submitted and potentially high-impact projects and protocols will go live without adequate security coverage. Combined with the competition for a limited number of audit slots, it becomes mathematically impossible for many projects across Arbitrum’s broader ecosystem to obtain security coverage within reasonable timeframes.
Significant Fund Losses: $64.54M lost across 15 protocol exploits in 2024 alone, many occurring post-audit. Point-in-time assessments can miss vulnerabilities, additional security coverage is necessary and continuous security on every new commit of code is ideal to minimize the vulnerabilities introduced during ongoing development.
Resource Allocation: Not all projects qualify for subsidies based on council KPIs. Emerging builders face a choice between depleting runway on expensive private security or shipping potentially vulnerable code to their users.
The ecosystem data tell the story:
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$639M TVL added in 2024 requiring protection
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276 funded projects needing security (many more deployed without eco funding)
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$64.54M in 2024 lost despite existing security measures
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15 major incidents, some ultimately fatal to the affected protocol
Between limited audit capacity, prohibitive costs, and continuous development cycles, a significant portion of Arbitrum’s ecosystem operates without adequate security coverage. This isn’t a failure of the audit program, it’s recognition that traditional security models alone cannot scale to meet modern DeFi’s needs.
Solution
While the program discussed provides a strong foundation for the Arbitrum Ecosystem, we see clear pain points due to scalability constraints of manual audits. The solution is to provide all protocols on Arbitrum access to effective pre-deployment security analysis.
This is where Octane has the potential to transform Arbitrum’s security landscape for the better. Octane provides immediate, on-demand security intelligence, ensuring no protocol is left defenseless on launch. The current reality is that many teams deploy onchain with zero security assessment on the exact commit set for deployment – whether due to budget constraints, competitive deadlines, or simply adding a few extra lines of code after an audit.
Octane extends the “snapshot” protection of a manual audit by continuously monitoring for new threats and bugs that often emerge after results are delivered. Additionally, a number of users have found that Octane successfully identified issues introduced by manual auditors’ recommended fixes. Ideally, Octane is a complement to manual auditing, a necessary step in the process that comes both before and after a human security review.
For teams that lack the resources to obtain consistent access to traditional audits, Octane provides a critical yet cost-effective security solution. The AI-powered security analysis engine delivers results that identify similar findings to top manual audit firms, and sometimes even more. All at a fraction of the cost in a fraction of the time.
Our platform addresses the critical gaps in the current program:
Timeline Constraints: While traditional firms have months-long waitlists, Octane deploys with just a few clicks via a simple GitHub integration. Select your contracts, define the scope, and 15 minutes later your results are ready. There’s no need to pause development to start security.
Scalability: Arbitrum has significantly expanded its ecosystem recently and shows no signs of slowing its growth. This growth has been matched by commensurate demand for security services from developers. While initiatives like Arbitrum’s help subsidize this demand for security analysis, they have a much weaker effect on its supply. Octane delivers security at scale. On-demand scans can be scheduled and repeated as often as needed.
Continuous Coverage: The $64.54M lost to exploits in 2024 shows that the current model of relying on point-in-time audits is simply not working. The pace of development they set is just not a workable reality for many teams, who find themselves needing to make changes on-the-go. Here, Octane can serve as a first line of defense, simulating potential attack flows against every PR.
Cost Efficiency: At $1,667-$2,000 per project for point-in-time protection versus $100-200K for traditional audits, Octane democratizes access to security while preserving Arbitrum’s security budget for critical manual reviews.
Proven Results: Octane has identified many critical vulnerabilities for teams in-production. Some of these bugs were missed by manual auditors, or even introduced by their recommended fixes. Octane provides a baseline of security that should be the standard across the Arbitrum ecosystem. In a retroactive analysis, we ran Octane against 9 of the 15 major exploits on Arbitrum from 2024, code was not available for the remaining 6 of the 15. Octane successfully identified the root cause of 7 out of the 9 vulnerabilities that were publicly available for review, which represents $51.45M in preventable losses. See the findings here.
Our proposal enables Arbitrum to provide comprehensive security coverage via one-time scans to 100 projects for $200K or 300 projects for $500k, ensuring that every builder in the ecosystem, from grant recipients to established protocols, has the ability to get coverage they need. This creates a security baseline across the entire ecosystem while the formal audit program handles deep, manual analysis for critical upgrades and launches.
By combining Octane’s vulnerability scans with the existing audit program, Arbitrum creates the industry’s first truly comprehensive security framework: automated detection for all, manual audits for critical needs, and no project left behind.
Background & Skills
Founded in 2023 and headquartered in San Francisco, Octane delivers a truly holistic security solution through continuous code reviews that protect protocols throughout their entire development lifecycle. We combine software-first vulnerability analysis with world-class manual security talent, enabling teams to ship faster while maintaining the highest security standards. Our clients including Circle (USDC), Uniswap, Avalanche, etc trust us to protect $186.6B+ in assets because we catch vulnerabilities that traditional assessments miss.
Clients choose Octane for:
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Our software-first approach: We’ve built a platform trained on thousands of real-world vulnerabilities that consistently identifies complex exploit patterns traditional methods miss. Every commit and pull request receives automatic review through native CI/CD integration, with vulnerabilities identified through deep dependency analysis and exploit path tracing.
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Our novel research: Octane’s security researchers who’ve collectively earned over $1M in bug bounties provide comprehensive manual reviews on an as-needed basis, maximizing code security and developing further insights for automated protection.
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Our proven track record preventing exploits: We’ve discovered 100+ vulnerabilities across 86M+ lines of code that were missed in traditional security reviews.We prevented cross-contract reentrancy exploits similar to GMX ($42m) and automatically detected bugs like the Panoptic vulnerability ($4.05M rescued pre-disclosure; AI-found) with a single click. We’ve also caught complex slippage bugs in Uniswap integrations, identified oracle mispricing vulnerabilities, and found assembly errors that evaded static analyzers.
Through our holistic approach, we transform security from a development bottleneck into an enabler of velocity and confidence.To learn how continuous security accelerates development while protecting users, visit octane.security.
Project Management & Collaboration
Octane operates on a continuous, integrated model that eliminates traditional project management overhead. Each protected repository receives:
Immediate Integration: 15-minute onboarding call to connect GitHub repositories, with our security team guiding setup and initial configuration. No lengthy scoping documents or weeks of preparation required.
Scope of Work
For the Arbitrum ecosystem, Octane will provide:
Immediate Security Coverage
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Automated vulnerability detection for 100 or 300 Arbitrum projects via one-time scans
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AI-powered detection of vulnerabilities including reentrancy, oracle manipulation, access control flaws, and economic exploits
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Deep dependency analysis to catch supply chain vulnerabilities
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Adaptive learning that improves accuracy based on ecosystem patterns
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Dedicated manual security team time to support projects with triaging vulnerabilities discovered by our AI
Deliverables
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Real-time vulnerability reports with severity ratings and remediation code
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Manual security researcher finding review and triaging support
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100 or 300 scan reports with exportables (PDF, Markdown)
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Quarterly ecosystem security analysis identifying common vulnerability patterns
Implementation Timeline
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Day 1-30: Onboard first 20 projects
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Week 4-8: Complete ecosystem onboarding
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Month 3+: Continuous protection with monthly reporting
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Ongoing: Quarterly reviews with Arbitrum security council
Expert Resources
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24/7 access to Octane LSRs and SRs (lead/security researchers) for critical issues
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Manual review allocation for complex vulnerabilities
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Architecture consultation for new protocol designs
Financial Breakdown of Proposal
100 Automated Security Reviews ($200,000)
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Automated vulnerability analyses for 100 protocols ($2000/each)
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Detailed vulnerability reports with remediation guidance
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Priority ranking of critical issues via severity scores (including likelihood and impact scores)
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Exploit scenarios of vulnerabilities assuming applications gain TVL.
300 Automated Security Reviews ($500,000)
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Automated vulnerability analyses for 300 protocols ($1,666.67/each)
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Detailed vulnerability reports with remediation guidance
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Priority ranking of critical issues via severity scores (including likelihood and impact scores)
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Exploit scenarios of vulnerabilities assuming applications gain TVL.
Summary
Arbitrum’s $10M audit program provides crucial security infrastructure but faces inherent limitations: months-long waitlists, limited firm capacity for 276+ funded projects, and point-in-time assessments that miss vulnerabilities introduced during continuous development. With $64.54M lost to exploits despite audits, the ecosystem needs comprehensive, continuous protection.
Octane delivers immediate, scalable security that complements traditional audits. Our platform protects 100 Arbitrum projects for $200K, the cost of one traditional audit, providing continuous vulnerability detection that catches critical bugs in minutes versus 6-8 weeks. Or we can provide coverage for 300 projects for 500k and secure nearly the entire ecosystem. We’re currently protecting $186.6B across Circle, Uniswap, Avalanche etc, and have found 100+ vulnerabilities that passed traditional reviews.
For Arbitrum, this means every grant recipient, submission for the audit program, and protocol has the opportunity to receive enterprise-grade security from day one. No waitlists. No gaps between audits. Projects integrate in 15 minutes and receive protection.
By approving this proposal, Arbitrum becomes the first ecosystem to achieve true security coverage: Octane’s continuous protection for all builders, traditional audits for critical needs, and no protocol left vulnerable. This transforms security from a bottleneck that costs millions in exploits to infrastructure that enables confident, rapid innovation across the entire ecosystem.
Contact Information
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Name of Proposer: Octane
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Proposer’s Representative: Giovanni Vignone
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Telegram Handle: @vignone
LinkedIn Profile: Octane | LinkedIn