XRP Bug Reward of $250,000 Sparks Controversy

A security vulnerability that could undermine the XRP supply cap has been discovered and fixed, leading to a controversial reward of $250,000 given to the white hat hacker who reported it. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT criticized the reward as being too low compared to the potential damage of the vulnerability. This flaw had existed in the XRP Ledger (XRPL) code for over a decade and could have allowed for the issuance of up to 18 trillion XRP if exploited, which is 180 times the existing supply cap of 100 billion XRP. The vulnerability was discovered by Kaiden Liao using an AI agent, and a fix was deployed on the 25th after being reported on the 22nd of last month. More than 80% of validators have since applied the update, blocking the possibility of an attack. Liao received the maximum payout of $250,000 from the bug bounty program, which is reported to be the largest reward ever for a vulnerability discovered by an AI agent. ZachXBT criticized the fact that a large organization only paid $250,000 to a researcher who reported a serious vulnerability, warning that such low rewards could deter future voluntary reports of vulnerabilities. The XRP Ledger Foundation acknowledged these concerns and stated that they are strengthening the bug bounty program.

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