Katherine Ross


<p>The head of risk for the developer of Euler Finance is stepping down, following a period of security vulnerabilities on the DeFi protocol.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Seraphim Czecker, head of risk at Euler Labs, announced his resignation via a tweet on Wednesday, April 19.&nbsp;</p>



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Big announcement: <br><br>I have resigned from <a href="https://twitter.com/eulerfinance?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@eulerfinance</a>. <br>Details soon.</p>&mdash; Seraphim (@MacroMate8) <a href="https://twitter.com/MacroMate8/status/1648681377435402240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p>According to his LinkedIn, Czecker was under contract at Euler. He had been with the team for over a year.</p>



<p>Prior to Euler, Czecker worked as an FX trader at Goldman Sachs. </p>



<p>“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.</p>



<p>Michael Bentley, CEO of Euler, responded in the tweet thread from Czecker and said the resignation had been planned prior to the March <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/flash-loans-expose-growing-gap-in-defi-insurance">flash loan</a> attack on Euler, where the protocol lost $197 million.</p>



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Was planned before the attack FYI</p>&mdash; Michael Bentley (@euler_mab) <a href="https://twitter.com/euler_mab/status/1648713239016996864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p>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.”</p>



<p>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 <a href="https://twitter.com/eulerfinance/status/1635431726364147712">tweet</a> from the company.</p>



<p>In late March, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/euler-exploiter-returns-money">Euler succeeded in clawing back</a> $177 million after the hacker apologized and promised to return the stolen assets.</p>



<p>Last year, Euler <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/defi-protocol-euler-gets-32m-from-coinbase-ftx-to-diversify-dao">raised</a> $32 million in a funding round led by Haun Ventures. The round included FTX, Coinbase, and Uniswap Labs Ventures.</p>



<p><em>Michael Bodley contributed reporting.</em></p>



<p><em>Updated April 19, 2023 at 4:26 pm ET: Added comment from Seraphim Czecker.</em></p>



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