New Report From CER Live Alleges That Most DEXs Are Unsafe

CER Live, a crypto exchange ranking platform, has recently given out a report. This report indicated that of the top 25 decentralized exchanges (DEXs), 14 of them had received poor scores regarding cybersecurity.

Many Angles Looked At

In the report, a variety of unique problems were looked at, problems that are faced by most DEXs face on a day to day. This includes the prevalence of slippage, fake token listings, lack of data regarding listed trading pairs, and delays in transaction confirmation. Another key thing CER Live investigated, is whether or not these exchanges had undertaken security audits, ensured adequate end-to-end security, or if they offered bounty programs to encourage public discovery of bugs.

From there, the assessment allocated a score, ranging from 1 to 10, which is given to each exchange in relation to their overall security. CER had concluded that any score above eight could be safely classified as “High.” Any 0score between 6 and 8 are classified as “Good.”

Anything below 6, however, is classified as “low,” which is then considered “unsafe” Only two of the 25 exchanges analyzed had managed to reach a “High” level of security through this scoring system in the report. These two DEXs are Uniswap and Syntetyx.

Audits Either Old Or Nonexistent

Low scoring DEXs were called out by CER for their auditing practices, in turn. CER alleged that many had failed to re-audit their offerings after recent additions to their respective codes. Any DEX with an audit considered to be out of date had their scores lowered, in turn. Other DEXs had outright failed to release any sort of public audit, let alone outdated ones.

In the report, CER stated that six exchanges had failed to publicly announce their audits, or failed to pass a security audit altogether. The report hammered the idea home that any unaudited exchange cannot be considered safe.

Urged To Enact Best Practices

Some of these DEXs had refrained from hiring specialized companies to complete their audits, relying on individual researchers instead. The report’s authors, rather understandably, discouraged using one individual to audit the entire code of a platform. With the massive growth the DeFi space had experienced these last few months, researchers warned that DEX users stand more exposed to fraud as opposed to hacks.

The report concluded that 92% of the top 25 DEXs need to prioritize security more than they are now. CER had encouraged that these exchanges follow the existing best practices of the industry in the future, urging for a safe trade environment for DEX users.