- Lido DAO has adopted the Whitehat Safe Harbor Agreement to enhance security for its $26 billion liquid staking protocol.
- The agreement allows white hat Hackers to intervene legally to help recover funds during exploits without fear of legal consequences.
- Over 20 DeFi protocols, including Aave, Pendle, and Uniswap, have adopted the agreement, securing more than $45 billion collectively.
- Crypto crime has surged recently, with over $2.5 billion stolen in 2025 and significant increases in North Korean Hacking activity.
- The Safe Harbor Agreement was developed by the nonprofit Security Alliance after the 2022 Nomad hack to empower ethical hackers to respond quickly to security breaches.
Lido DAO, the organization behind a leading liquid staking platform, voted on Friday to adopt the Whitehat Safe Harbor Agreement to safeguard its $26 billion worth of deposits. The move aims to enable white hat hackers—ethical security researchers who operate legally and with permission—to intervene and assist if the protocol faces exploitation.
The Whitehat Safe Harbor Agreement is a legal framework crafted by the crypto security nonprofit Security Alliance. It protects white hats from potential prosecution or legal action by allowing them to act promptly in helping secure funds that may otherwise be stolen by malicious hackers. Before this agreement, white hats risked legal repercussions even when attempting to help affected protocols.
Lido joins more than 20 decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols that have embraced the agreement, collectively covering over $45 billion in assets. Notable adopters include major DeFi players like the lender Aave, the yield derivatives protocol Pendle, and the largest decentralized exchange, Uniswap. Further details about the agreement and its adoption can be found on the Safe Harbor website.
The adoption comes amid a rise in crypto-related crimes. According to Chainalysis, the amount stolen by North Korean hackers has increased by 51% this year. Additionally, data from DefiLlama reports that over $2.5 billion has been stolen from crypto services so far in 2025. DeFi protocols are frequent targets for such attacks because they run on blockchain code that enables permissionless activities, like trading and lending.
The Whitehat Safe Harbor Agreement was initiated following the 2022 Nomad hack, where more than $190 million was drained within hours while white hat hackers were unable to intervene due to lack of legal protection. The Security Alliance stated on its website, “With Safe Harbor, our goal is to make sure that never happens again and to empower whitehats to rescue funds.” The agreement’s development involved legal experts and companies including a16z Crypto, Cooley, Debevoise & Plimpton, Filecoin Foundation, and Paradigm.
✅ Follow BITNEWSBOT on Telegram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X.com, and Google News for instant updates.
Previous Articles:
- Tencent Gains Access to Nvidia Blackwell Chips via Japan Cloud
- Terraform Labs sues Jump Trading for $4B over Luna collapse scandal
- Fed Proposes Limited Payment Accounts to Boost Payments Access
- World Liberty Financial’s Token Use Proposal Splits Investors
- Coinbase launches new features to become everything exchange
