LayerZero, Immunefi Offer Bug Bounty With $15M Max Payout

KYC is required for participation, and there are range of rewards available for bug hunters

article-image

Kelvin Degree/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

LayerZero, a cross-chain messaging protocol, has established a bug bounty with a maximum reward of $15 million alongside partner Immunefi.

That number surpasses MakerDAO’s bug bounty, which offered a maximum of $10 million after launching in February 2022.

LayerZero will reserve the maximum bounty reward for those who find vulnerabilities at the “highest severity level,” and it will be paid out for each new bug found by participants.

LayerZero’s decision to partner with Immunefi mirrors the thinking of other prominent projects who have adopted the Web3 platform for their own bug bounties, including MakerDAO, Compound and Chainlink. Immunefi raised $24 million in its Series A round back in September 2022 and now claims to have paid out over $75 million in bounties. 

Immunefi’s terms for LayerZero’s bounty are public and outline the rewards by “threat level” and by “groups.” Group 1 includes the chains Ethereum, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Fantom, while Group 2 is for every other chain out there. 

The highest threat level for bugs is “critical,” as defined by Immunefi. For smart contracts, a critical threat entails voting manipulation in governance proposals, direct theft of user funds and NFTs, among a host of other things.

According to Immunefi’s terms, “Critical smart contract vulnerability payouts for Group 1 are a minimum of USD $250,000, or 10% of the value at risk at the time of report submission, with a hard cap of USD $15,000,000, whichever is larger. Value at risk should be calculated primarily (though not exclusively) based on concrete and demonstrable funds at risk.”

For Group 2, the minimum payout is $25,000 or, again, 10% of the value that’s at risk. The cap is $1.5 million. 

Importantly, smaller payouts are up for grabs for lower threat bugs that participants are able to find. The lowest minimum prize is $1,000.

Supplementary rewards beyond minimum payouts or the 10% metric is “at the discretion of the team.”

Additionally, know-your-customer is needed to participate in this bounty. That means to get paid, you’ll have to send an invoice with your name, address and payment instructions. A government identification and an Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) screening are also required. 

Blockworks reported in April that LayerZero secured $120 million in funding to expand into the Asia-Pacific region’s gaming sector, boosting the company’s valuation to $3 billion.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Maple Finance has successfully navigated significant market challenges through its strategic pivot to secured lending (Maple v2) and the launch of its Syrup product. Syrup has become a primary growth driver, delivering sustainable, outperforming stablecoin yields and rapidly increasing TVL. The upcoming custody-first Bitcoin staking product (istBTC) presents another significant avenue for expansion. Crucially, Maple has achieved operational profitability, a key inflection point that, combined with a fully vested token and active buyback mechanism, strengthens its investment case. While valuation metrics suggest potential undervaluation relative to peers and growth, the primary forward-looking risk identified is the long-term sustainability of its current high-take-rate collateral staking revenue model.

article-image

Prediction markets show that people bet in anticipation of things happening far too often

article-image

The agency’s final deadline is in October

article-image

Higher inflation historically lags behind tariff implementation, so don’t celebrate just yet

article-image

VanEck launches its first tokenized fund after financial giants convene at SEC roundtable

article-image

The “GameFi” platform that began its development while part of Zynga is launching another NFT collection

article-image

Funds disagree about which metrics matter, but agree fundamentals are key