TLDR
- Firedancer now requires researchers to burn 1 SOL for bug bounty eligibility.
- Jump Crypto’s April-May audit received 809 reports from 162 researchers.
- AI-assisted submissions contributed to a review backlog that peaked at 299 reports.
- Duplicate findings accounted for nearly half of valid submissions during the audit.
- Alpenglow security findings qualify for triple rewards through November 20, with critical payouts reaching $300,000.
Jump Crypto has introduced a 1 SOL burn for researchers submitting security reports to Firedancer, its independent Solana validator software. The token, worth roughly $100, must be destroyed before a report can qualify for a bug bounty.
Under terms updated October 26, the fee cannot be refunded, even for duplicate, invalid, or out-of-scope reports. Submissions without proof of burning SOL may still receive a review but cannot receive rewards.
Source: Firedancer.io
AI Reports Overload Firedancer Audit
The policy follows an audit contest held from April 9 to May 9. Jump received 809 submissions from 162 researchers, which yielded 127 unique security findings. Nearly half of valid reports repeated problems already identified by others.
Jump researcher Ishan Bhatt said AI agents likely helped produce almost every submission. The review queue peaked at 299 open reports, with 80% of duplicates arriving more than three days after the original. Separately, plans for Solana validator operations in Hong Kong were announced this month.
Jump says burning SOL creates a cost for submitting untested claims. The fee goes to an address that cannot spend the tokens, meaning Jump collects no payment. Its previous contest charged $100 per report and limited entries to one per researcher daily.
Researchers must explain how to reproduce each flaw. The new platform restricts main report sections to 3,000 characters. Jump expects to contact eligible researchers within 96 hours after confirming their submission and token burn.
Higher Rewards Target Alpenglow Bugs
Firedancer now offers twice its usual bounty amounts through November 20. Reports specific to Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade qualify for triple rewards. Critical findings can receive up to $300,000, although Jump determines final payments.
The incentives follow Alpenglow’s mainnet launch on October 21. The new voting system changes how validators agree on Solana transactions. Jump wants researchers to examine this code while the higher payments remain available.
Firedancer runs alongside Agave, another Solana validator client. Jump said its software secured about 15% of Solana’s staked SOL as of October 16. A separate Solana trading bot wallet breach reported on October 26 involved user wallets, not a known Firedancer flaw.
The audit previously uncovered a transaction scheduling error that could make Firedancer process payments out of order and disagree with other validators. Jump says the new reporting rules aim to reduce review delays while keeping serious security findings eligible for rewards.
