Euler Labs’ Head of Risk Resigns 1 Month After Attack

The head of risk for the developer of Euler Finance is stepping down, following a period of security vulnerabilities on the DeFi protocol. 

Seraphim Czecker, head of risk at Euler Labs, announced his resignation via a tweet on Wednesday, April 19. 

According to his LinkedIn, Czecker was under contract at Euler. He had been with the team for over a year.

Prior to Euler, Czecker worked as an FX trader at Goldman Sachs. 

“Given the state of the protocol after the hack, I decided it’s the best time to move on. As the person who was responsible for growth at Euler, there is not much I can help them with at this stage,” Czecker told Blockworks. He added that he “will be moving on to another DeFi project” but did not provide details.

Michael Bentley, CEO of Euler, responded in the tweet thread from Czecker and said the resignation had been planned prior to the March flash loan attack on Euler, where the protocol lost $197 million.

In a statement to Blockworks, Bentley said, “We agreed to let him go before the attack to pursue an independent project with a former colleague. His departure got put on pause whilst people focussed on the attack response, but we spoke yesterday and agreed that now seems like a good time for him to move on.”

An attacker was able to exploit vulnerable code and “was able to liquidate these underwater accounts and profit from the liquidation bonuses,” according to a tweet from the company.

In late March, Euler succeeded in clawing back $177 million after the hacker apologized and promised to return the stolen assets.

Last year, Euler raised $32 million in a funding round led by Haun Ventures. The round included FTX, Coinbase, and Uniswap Labs Ventures.

Michael Bodley contributed reporting.

Updated April 19, 2023 at 4:26 pm ET: Added comment from Seraphim Czecker.

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