The Security Alliance (SEAL), a nonprofit dedicated to Web3 safety, has launched the 2025 Safe Harbor Champion Awards, spotlighting organizations that have embraced or promoted its white hat protection framework. The initiative, described by SEAL as a "public popularity contest," invites the crypto community to vote on social media for nominees ranging from decentralized finance protocols to venture capital firms.
SEAL announced that 29 nominees are competing across two categories: adopters and advocates. Voting is conducted on X, where users can support candidates by liking, reposting, or replying to campaign posts. According to SEAL co-leads Dickson Wu and Robert MacWha, the awards build on the Safe Harbor Agreement introduced in 2024, which shields ethical hackers who intervene during active exploits from criminal liability. The group emphasized that visibility and recognition will encourage more projects to adopt the framework.
The Adopters category includes major decentralized finance platforms such as Alchemix, Balancer, ENS Domains, Immunefi, PancakeSwap, Polymarket, Uniswap Foundation, and zkSync. These projects have formally integrated the Safe Harbor rules to protect white hats. On the Advocates side, nominees include a16z Crypto, Paradigm, Dragonfly, Cooley LLP, Debevoise, LeXpunK Army, PowerhouseDAO, the Filecoin Foundation, and cybersecurity firm Osec. SEAL praised these groups for promoting Safe Harbor and encouraging broader industry adoption.
SEAL currently counts 79 volunteer white hat hackers who respond to active threats. As of October 1, 14 decentralized finance protocols with roughly $20 billion in total value had adopted the framework. Notable adopters include Pendle, managing $10 billion, and Uniswap, with nearly $6 billion in locked deposits. White hats have previously recovered millions, including $2.6 million from the Morpho exploit, $5.4 million returned to Curve Finance, and $12 million safeguarded during the Ronin bridge incident.