Zengo Sets a Hacker Trap: Breach Our Wallet for a $420K Bitcoin Reward

The keyless crypto wallet maker Zengo will put 10 BTC and a pricy NFT into a Zengo wallet, challenging the hackers to take it – if they can.

According to the blog post, the “#ZengoWalletChallenge” will launch on January 9 and last for 15 days. It stated that,

“We’re moving 10 Bitcoin (± $420,000 USD) and a Pudgy Penguin (± $25,000 USD) into a regular Zengo wallet and inviting you to try and steal it.”

Further taunting interested hackers, the team said it will make things easier for attackers and harder for the team. They’ll share two of the three recovery factors needed to access the wallet.

On the first day, the team will put 1 BTC into the wallet and provide the bitcoin and ethereum addresses.

On day six, they’ll add four more bitcoin and reveal the first security factor hint.

On day thirteen, another 5 BTC will be added, and the second hint will be revealed.

On January 24, as the competition ends, the team will announce “any relevant winners, runners-up, or insights.”

(3/5) We're also moving our beloved @pudgypenguins to the same Zengo wallet.

He's currently worth around 12 #ETH.

But we're not worried because he's protected by Zengo Pro's Theft Protection: https://t.co/SqgH2GUveK pic.twitter.com/ckdqzl54Vz

— Zengo Wallet (@ZenGo) January 7, 2024

“The Only Wallet Secure Enough to Do This”

The team said it has seen over a million customers since 2018 and had no wallets hacked, drained, or phished. They also had six audits in the last five years.

Therefore, they argue that Zengo is the most secure crypto wallet.

“This Tuesday […] we are putting our money where our mouth is. Yes: We argue that Zengo is more secure than a traditional single-factor hardware wallet.”

Zengo does not have a single point of failure or seed phrase vulnerability, it said.

Per the Reddit post explaining the challenge, during the wallet creation process, using a 2-of-2 Multi-Party Computation (MPC) framework, each of the two Zengo parties (Zengo app on the user device and Zengo server) independently generate their own Secret Share.

Even if a hacker gains access to one of the two secret shares, it would be useless. They cannot spend user funds, the team wrote.

The bitcoin will be “waiting just for you. It’s on-chain, yours for the taking.”

Try to Hack and Earn BTC

While most bounties don’t award people who try and fail, Zengo aims to do so.

They invite anyone to create content about Zengo’s MPC cryptography, recovery process, and advanced features. The contest will last between January 9 and 24.

There will be up to three awards each week for grabs. The first place will get $750 in bitcoin, the second place $200, and the third $50.

Prizes will be sent to the winners’ Zengo Wallets.

If no relevant content is shared, there will be no winner, the team said.

Relevant content can be either a 5-15 minute YouTube video or a long-form post on a blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium, etc. It should describe the author’s attempts to hack the Zengo Wallet. It can also discuss Zengo’s approach to secure self-custody and how it’s different from a traditional hardware wallet.

Read more: Are Hackers Two Steps Ahead of Security in a Cat-and-Mouse Game? Experts Answer