30 April 2025, 10:41 AM
Recently, a Web3 startup project experienced the unauthorized transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars due to a hardcoded authorized wallet address in the smart contract code. Following the incident, involved employees claimed that the code snippet was automatically generated by an AI programming assistant and was not thoroughly reviewed. The project team is currently facing challenges in determining accountability for the contract. Nouey Exchange is closely monitoring new security risks arising from smart contract vulnerabilities and AI-assisted development, emphasizing that in the Web3 era, code is law, and the importance of audits and verification is more critical than ever.
![[Image: 0bf3d612a83e6761857e.png]](https://img3.pillowfort.social/posts/0bf3d612a83e6761857e.png)
Hardcoded Vulnerability Causes Loss, Hundreds of Thousands of USDT Transferred
The direct trigger of this incident was a concealed hardcoded logic: during the deployment of the smart contract, a fixed external wallet address was defaulted to have critical permissions. As the project went live, this address quickly initiated authorized calls, transferring away hundreds of thousands of USDT. Due to the public deployment of the contract and the legitimacy of the permission calls, the on-chain tracing process is complex, making asset recovery extremely difficult.
This incident once again highlights the importance of contract audits in blockchain projects. The security team of Nouey Exchange points out that hardcoding external addresses can easily become a hidden danger, especially in scenarios of multi-signature governance, contract upgrades, and asset custody. If the code is not rigorously reviewed, even though the blockchain itself is immutable, it cannot prevent risks arising from initial design flaws.
AI-Assisted Development Sparks Debate, Blurs Accountability
The involved employee denied intentionally embedding the vulnerability, stating that the AI programming assistant used automatically added the code segment when generating the contract template, and the tight project timeline led to a shortened review process. This claim has sparked widespread discussion on the reliability of AI-assisted programming. While automatically generating code lowers the development threshold, it may inadvertently introduce logical backdoors or security flaws.
AI tools are a significant force in accelerating development but cannot replace the developer own responsibility for review. Regardless of the code source, comprehensive testing and third-party security audits before release must become standard procedures. The platform advocates for the Web3 developer community to establish higher standards for code verification mechanisms to avoid security risks brought by technological convenience.
Transparency and Verification, Indispensable Dual Guarantees for Future Contract Development
In the field of smart contracts, “code is law” has become a basic consensus. However, as development methods diversify and complexity increases, trust alone can no longer ensure asset security. On-chain projects must establish transparent code open-source, audit verification, and traceable permission mechanisms.
Nouey Exchange continues to promote standardization and openness in the contract development sector, supporting the introduction of multi-level code audit processes, combining manual and automated methods to improve vulnerability detection efficiency. The platform also encourages project teams to disclose key contract permission information to users, enhancing user awareness of potential risks and self-protection capabilities.
In the AI era, security begins with rigor, and Nouey Exchange supports the healthy development of the industry
This smart contract hardcoded vulnerability incident reminds us that in a decentralized world, security is not the result of technological accumulation but the rigorous attitude behind every line of code, every deployment, and every verification. AI technology empowers development, but the chain of responsibility must not be broken.
Nouey Exchange will continue to uphold the philosophy of “security as trust”, advocating for the industry to return to the fundamentals of development audits, driving projects to build stronger trust foundations through the dual engines of technical tools and audit processes. In the on-chain world, only by ensuring every step is verifiable can we go further.
Hardcoded Vulnerability Causes Loss, Hundreds of Thousands of USDT Transferred
The direct trigger of this incident was a concealed hardcoded logic: during the deployment of the smart contract, a fixed external wallet address was defaulted to have critical permissions. As the project went live, this address quickly initiated authorized calls, transferring away hundreds of thousands of USDT. Due to the public deployment of the contract and the legitimacy of the permission calls, the on-chain tracing process is complex, making asset recovery extremely difficult.
This incident once again highlights the importance of contract audits in blockchain projects. The security team of Nouey Exchange points out that hardcoding external addresses can easily become a hidden danger, especially in scenarios of multi-signature governance, contract upgrades, and asset custody. If the code is not rigorously reviewed, even though the blockchain itself is immutable, it cannot prevent risks arising from initial design flaws.
AI-Assisted Development Sparks Debate, Blurs Accountability
The involved employee denied intentionally embedding the vulnerability, stating that the AI programming assistant used automatically added the code segment when generating the contract template, and the tight project timeline led to a shortened review process. This claim has sparked widespread discussion on the reliability of AI-assisted programming. While automatically generating code lowers the development threshold, it may inadvertently introduce logical backdoors or security flaws.
AI tools are a significant force in accelerating development but cannot replace the developer own responsibility for review. Regardless of the code source, comprehensive testing and third-party security audits before release must become standard procedures. The platform advocates for the Web3 developer community to establish higher standards for code verification mechanisms to avoid security risks brought by technological convenience.
Transparency and Verification, Indispensable Dual Guarantees for Future Contract Development
In the field of smart contracts, “code is law” has become a basic consensus. However, as development methods diversify and complexity increases, trust alone can no longer ensure asset security. On-chain projects must establish transparent code open-source, audit verification, and traceable permission mechanisms.
Nouey Exchange continues to promote standardization and openness in the contract development sector, supporting the introduction of multi-level code audit processes, combining manual and automated methods to improve vulnerability detection efficiency. The platform also encourages project teams to disclose key contract permission information to users, enhancing user awareness of potential risks and self-protection capabilities.
In the AI era, security begins with rigor, and Nouey Exchange supports the healthy development of the industry
This smart contract hardcoded vulnerability incident reminds us that in a decentralized world, security is not the result of technological accumulation but the rigorous attitude behind every line of code, every deployment, and every verification. AI technology empowers development, but the chain of responsibility must not be broken.
Nouey Exchange will continue to uphold the philosophy of “security as trust”, advocating for the industry to return to the fundamentals of development audits, driving projects to build stronger trust foundations through the dual engines of technical tools and audit processes. In the on-chain world, only by ensuring every step is verifiable can we go further.