SymBytes Edition 6 : Holistic Risk Models - The Much Needed Upgrade in DeFi 🛡️

Sneak-peek: what’s inside this issue 👀 

👉️ Narrative of the week: Why DeFi needs holistic security more than ever

👉️ Alpha from Masterclass: Nuggets from our recent “Pitching Fundamentals” masterclass that featured David Shengart, GP at Unicorn Factory Ventures & self professed DeFi addict

👉️ Upcoming Masterclass: A session on GTM and business fundamentals is scheduled this Friday (19th Jan). It will be hosted by Tote, Director of Partnerships at MagicSquareio. (Apply here!)

👉️ Symbiote Spotlight: Recent highlights, success stories and alpha from the Symbiote Ecosystem

Narrative of the week 🗓️

🫥 The Invisible Vulnerabilities: Why DeFi Needs More Than Just Audits

⚔️ A Double-Edged Sword: Innovation and Growing Exploits

DeFi's rapid growth brings innovation at breakneck speed, but with it comes an unsettling reality: exploits are on the rise. While the composability of DeFi protocols unlocks endless possibilities, it also expands the attack surface, creating hidden vulnerabilities that traditional audits often miss.

🗺️ Navigating a Metropolis with a Wild West Map

Imagine relying on a map from the Wild West to navigate a bustling metropolis. That's how current security approaches feel in DeFi's complex ecosystem. Traditional code audits focus on individual contracts, ignoring the intricate dance of interconnected protocols and unforeseen interactions. This blind spot is where attackers capitalize, leaving millions lost in their wake.

🛰️ Enter Holistic Security: The Real-Time Satellite Image

So, how do we fight back? Here's where the need for holistic security comes in. Think of it as upgrading your map to a real-time satellite image, revealing every alleyway and potential ambush point. This shift requires three crucial elements:

1) Beyond Individual Contracts: Ecosystem-Wide Analysis 🌍️

• Move beyond siloed auditing and analyze protocols within their larger ecosystem.

• Consider how dependencies, execution environments, and unexpected interactions can introduce risk.

2) Speed and Fidelity Matter: Embracing High-Performance Testing 🚀 

• Ditch the sluggish dial-up of current simulators and embrace high-performance on-chain testing environments.

• These environments, built for DeFi's intricate ballet, capture the nuances of real-world interactions, leaving no blind spots for attackers.

3) Reality is the Mirror: Bytecode-Level Fidelity 🪞 

• Skip the off-chain ghost dance and test against bytecode-level fidelity.

• This eliminates the distortions of recreated protocols, ensuring vulnerability detection isn't a game of chance.

🔒 DeFi's potential is vast, but its safety needs an upgrade.

By addressing these hidden vulnerabilities, we can build a future where innovation thrives, not under the shadow of exploits.

🦸 Chainrisk: Pioneering Holistic Security

Enter Chainrisk, a pioneer in holistic DeFi security.

Their Chainrisk Cloud platform acts as a comprehensive shield, offering:

Tools to quantitatively assess potential risks 👇

🚀 Proactive threat tracking 24/7

🔄 Protocol Optimization: Mitigate vulnerabilities through simulations

🔍 Rigorous economic testing pre-mainnet for stability

💻 Control blockchain state for confident upgrades

In doing so, it empowers a protocol to:

🛡️ Proactively prevent crises: Address risks before they hit.

🏗️ Build resilient protocols: Design for market volatility.

🌐 Boost investor confidence: Secure, well-tested protocols attract investors.

🌟 Chainrisk’s statistical impact analysis is upto 5x faster - AND 6x cheaper than competitors. 

The team were selected to the finals of the prestigious Thiel fellowship, and have recently closed their pre-seed round led by Antler Global.

Check out their recent report on impact of economic exploits on the DeFi ecosystem in the past year, in collaboration with QuillAudits 🪲 👇️ 

Alpha from Masterclass on Pitching Fundamentals 🌟 

In the wild west of web3, where disruption reigns and ideas fly faster than rockets, one skill separates the pioneers from the panhandlers: pitching. ⚡️

A killer pitch isn't just about securing funding; it's about igniting a community, rallying builders, and navigating the ever-shifting landscape.

We recently hosted a masterclass on this topic for our cohort projects.

Our speaker for the session was David Shengart, GP at Unicorn Factory Ventures & self professed DeFi addict. He is also an LP at AllianceDao and has made direct equity investments in companies like Bubblemaps & Stroom Network - all of which demonstrate his deep involvement in Web3 investments.

🌟 Alpha drop from the session 👇️ 

1. Structure It Right ✅ 

David Shengart, our pitch guru, unveiled two powerful formulas:

⚒️ The Traditionist: Understand your audience, nail your value proposition, lay out the problem and solution, and show market potential. Then, map your business model, prove traction, showcase your team's magic, and seal the deal with financials, exit strategy, and a killer presentation.

🎨 The Visionary: Spark imagination, paint the opportunity, drive the business rationale, and confidently ask for that investment.

Choose your weapon, but remember, every pitch needs a clear narrative arc that leaves them wanting more.

2. Know Your Audience 📺️ 

Imagine pitching rockets to farmers. It wouldn't fly, right? Research your investors, tailor your pitch to their interests, and speak their language. Different audiences deserve (and respond to) different versions of your story.

3. Demystify the Complex 🗣️ 

Don't bombard investors with jargon. Use simple language, visuals, and analogies to explain your cutting-edge tech and tokenomics. Make them understand how your product works, even if they've never seen anything like it before.

Community Slots - Grab hold of this opportunity! ✨ 

A session on GTM and business fundamentals masterclass is scheduled this Friday (19th Jan), it will be hosted by Tote, Director of Partnerships at MagicSquareio. It will be attended by our cohort projects.

However, some slots are open to the community! We strongly recommend applying - some serious alpha and insights are about to be shared.

👉️ Apply here to be eligible for a community slot!

Keep an eye on our Twitter for further updates. And also subscribe to this newsletter.

Symbiote Spotlight⭐️

Let’s take a look at some of the recent highlights, success stories and alpha from the Symbiote Ecosystem 👇

1) Hypersign are approaching their testnet launch in a few days!

A quantum leap in performance and thrilling new features await in Hypersign’s Testnet Prajna, set to launch later this week.

2) ZOTH talk about the huge potential of RWA tokenization

Institutions are flooding into the space - and the demand for digital assets backed by real world assets will only grow.

3) NodeOps public launch for XAI Sentry Node Operator is round the corner

People have been raving about their nodes on XAI running smoother than ever, thanks to NodeOps. You can tap into the gaming powerhouse in the Arbitrum ecosystem too by effortlessly setting up your Sentry Node. ⚔️ 

Reserve your spot now!

4) DeHack analyzed vulnerabilities that led to the $500M Wise Lending attack 🪲 

Wise Lending have recently faced a staggering ~$500M loss due to an exploit.

DeHack have done a deep dive into the vulnerabilities that caused this, and talk about how it can be mitigated.

5) Raj from Scallop talks about the impact of the Bitcoin ETF

The spot Bitcoin ETFs’ approval is the beginning of a major shift in the regulatory landscape and presents several opportunities for the industry. Raj Bagadi talks about it in this post.

That’s all for this week, folks! Stay tuned for new editions of SymBytes every Tuesday. In the meanwhile, stay connected with us here-

Our Website | Twitter (X) | Blog | Telegram Community

About Symbiote

The Web3 ecosystem is plagued by funding gaps and a dearth of tailored support. Symbiote aims to be the antidote 💉 

Here are the key differentiators in Symbiote’s program.

• 12-week tailored program designed for individual project needs.

• Sprint-based model for high-paced, measured results.

• Focus on instilling confidence in startups to navigate the dynamic crypto market.

• Real-time project insights via cutting-edge analytical tools.

• Knowledge center providing detailed connections, past performance, and future plans.

• Access to an extensive ecosystem with 50+ Mentors, 450+ Partners, 150+ Investors and a fast growing 110k+ Global Community

 🚀 As crypto markets are heating up, the time could not be better for a promising project to join a program like this. 

The conditions are ripe - and with an industry leading support system, your chances of succeeding are catapulted to the 🌙.

Stay tuned as we’ll be announcing our first cohort of some super promising, path breaking projects shortly! 

👉️ Apply here for the next cohort!