Hats Security Council and Airdrop Machine Initiative

Since the beginning of Hats, we envisioned a future where communities, builders, and security experts collaborate to create a more efficient and secure crypto ecosystem. We believe this is necessary in Web3 due to the greater need for communities of security professionals and investors to collaboratively defend the space from threats. With this in mind, Hats is continuously building tools needed to share both security responsibility and success with communities.

In alignment with these intentions, we are excited to introduce the Security Council, a new way to incentivize synergies between Web3 builders, security researchers, hackers, and the broader community.

What is the Security Council?

The Security Council is a collective of different protocol participants such as builders, community members, and an array of security experts. Each stakeholder group is organized in into what we call embassies. We envision a collective of embassies participating in securing protocols and are properly rewarded for their contributions. These embassies will likely function best when each participant focuses on their own domains of expertise while looking for opportunities to create synergies through their collective skill sets and know-how. This way we can increase the security of Web3 and DeFi in accord with the ethos of the space.

The Security Council offers a great opportunity for participants to shape the future of security through learning, engaging, and contributing to conversations on how to make the space safer for all. By working together in the embassies, we can create the base infrastructure for greater adoption.

Goals of the Security Council

The intention of the Security Council is to have a positive impact on the overall security of the ecosystem. Core goals include:

1. Decrease the number of funds that are compromised each year
2. Define best practices on how to manage user funds in a secure manner
3. Promote explicit security standards

Adding to the Council-wide goals, the embassies have their own specific goals that define different means of how to contribute to the overarching goals of making the ecosystem more secure.

Security incidents as a roadblock to more mainstream adoption

We want to solve security issues and prove that the DeFi community can self-regulate. Currently, media coverage from non-crypto-related media outlets is focused on big exploits and Ponzi collapses. As such, decreasing the amount of security related incidents will have a positive impact on the public perception of Web3. This will also be an important step to mitigate against any potential legislation that could likely harm the very retail investors it seeks to protect.

Our intention is to prove that the average Joe should have peace of mind while freely enjoying the benefits of Decentral Finance.

Security Council Structure

For an initial setup, we will divide the Security Council into three separate pillars: the security community; the security experts; and the security infrastructure. Each Embassy is allocated within one of those pillars. The Security Council will be used as a forum to align different parties and will be equiped with specific tools to have a positive impact on protocol and user security. We will dive deeper into the functionality and structure of the Security Council in a separate article.

NFT Gated Community

The Security Council is comprised of what we call Embassies. Each bug bounty vault within the Hats ecosystem represents one embassy. In order to be part of an embassy, members must own a Embassy NFT, which can be acquired via bounty contribution in the form of liquidity or being part of a committee. Embassy NFTs will grant exclusive access to a Discord group with the project committee and other embassy members.

As a member of the security council, you will gain privileged access to non-vulnerability news and security affairs of each project, and you can provide your input on how these projects should handle security matters. To show our long-term alignment with the Security Council, embassy members will hold the sole right to make governance proposals regarding the Hats protocol and the community treasury.

Airdrop Machine

We continue to explore ways to honor the commitment and support of early participants. This is why we are creating a multi-round airdrop machine mechanism that rewards certain community members with NFTs immediately and tokens when they become available.

What is our airdrop machine?

An airdrop machine is a mechanism that can distribute periodic rewards for community members that meet specific criteria. An airdrop machine differs from the popular one-drop-and-done mechanism because it has serial, retroactive, and scalable characteristics making it adaptable as the community grows and evolves. It also enables us to reward genuine support and contribution rather than airdrop hunters and Sybil attacks. An ongoing initiative also allows us to engage and attract future talent and community members that will likely make a great contribution to the Hats ecosystem.

Airdrops heavily impact the way projects function and interact with their communities, yet there is little research regarding the long-term impact post airdrop. As such, a further benefit of a multi-round airdrop allows us to analyze data and experiment with airdrop initiatives that align with our long-term goals and vision. At the same time, it allows us to understand the best ways to reward our community.

How does it work?

If you are a current community member, you may already qualify for an airdrop. Future community members might be included in future airdrops if they demonstrate involvement and commitment to the Hats vision. Qualifications and distributed amounts are at the discretion of the team and will be announced after each airdrop.

The first airdrop will reserve 2% of the total supply for eligible addresses. The token will not be directly claimable but will vest once the $HATS token goes live. Accompanying the token eligibility there will be NFTs airdropped for everyone in the “Early Depositor”, the “Committee Members” and the “Security Experts” categories which can be claimed directly and allow the holder to join the “Embassies”.

Learn more: Link to Airdrop Maschine Documentation

Snapshot link:

The Hats tokens reserved for each category will be allocated based on points earned in that specific category. Most eligible addresses are expected to be eligible for more than one category. The size of each category allocation was created with this in mind and with consideration of the number of eligible wallets in each category.

Check your eligibility for the #1 Hats airdrop →> https://app.hats.finance/vaults

Redeem your NFT and join the embassies

To be eligible for the Airdrop you must qualify for a redeemable NFT that grants you access to an embassy. Please Note! In order to stay eligible & receive your token airdrop in the future you must redeem your NFT.

Hats differentiates from most DeFi projects because once you deposit into a vault, you know you are contributing to a greater cause.

Embassy NFTs come with many perks including participation in future airdrop machine activities and access to Embassies’ exclusive Discord groups.

The Protector NFT

While the Airdrop Machine will deliver a range of NFTs, the most common will be the Protector of the Chain NFT.

The Protector of the Chain NFT is part of the Hats Embassy collection. This NFT acts as a proof of deposit for users who add liquidity to any protocol’s bug bounty within the Hats ecosystem, allowing us to reward those who back up their belief and trust in a project’s team, community, and vision by investing in the protocol’s security. Hats Finance views this NFT as a badge of honor recognizing those who are doing their bit to bring greater trust and light to the dark domain of DeFi security. Those users who are willing to participate in the creation of a more secure Web3 space are what we call Protectors of the Chain. Thank you for taking security seriously and contributing to the protection of your own and others’ best interests.

Please note, this NFT serves as a token-based key to access your protocol’s Embassy.

Each Protector NFT differs in two ways:

1. The project logo — The project bug bounty you deposited in.
2. Level of trust — depending on your deposit, you will receive an NFT with one of the three levels of trust — 1, 2, or 3, with three being the highest. Three also indicates that you deposited a sufficient amount to protect the project and you highly trust the project vision, team, and community.

Keep in mind that the Hats token is not live yet. All announcements regarding token airdrops will be done via our official Twitter @Hatsfinance over the next few months. Do not act on any launch announcements on Discord or from any source other than @HatsFinance on Twitter.

If you have any questions regarding the security council, airdrop machine, or governance mechanisms, please reach out via our official Discord.