Having acquired $8.2 million in venture funding, Cube3.ai, a cryptocurrency-focused security business that safeguards smart contracts by thwarting fraudulent transactions, has come out of stealth mode.
Blockchange Ventures led the seed round, which also included Dispersion Capital, Symbolic Capital, Hypersphere Ventures, ICLUB, and TA Ventures.
Decentralised finance (DeFi), which frequently targets public blockchain-based systems, has developed a reputation as a haven for hackers and cybercriminals, where the financial incentives for bad actors are typically far stronger than in the present, so-called Web2, world.
The founder and CEO of Cube3.ai, Einaras Gravrock, has extensive experience building Web2 security platforms. Recognising that a wave of innovation is typically accompanied by a wave of crime, he was inspired to develop a system that verifies crypto transactions in real time in addition to the basic measures of manual code audits and post-attack alerts.
For newly deployed smart contracts, Cube3.ai calculates a risk score using machine learning and pattern matching. Criminals frequently use new contracts from fresh wallets, and a short while later they might suggest a fraudulent transaction against a target contract. Only a little window remains, according to Gravrock, to check new contracts for bad intentions.
In a recent interview, Gravrock stated: “On behalf of our clients, we equip decentralised applications and smart contracts to discover attacks, and then to deny exploits as they are being suggested.”