The Art of The Scam - Demystifying Honeypots in Ethereum Smart Contracts

Explore the emerging trend of honeypot smart contracts in Ethereum through this 21-minute conference talk from USENIX Security '19. Dive into the first systematic analysis of these deceptive contracts, which lure victims into traps rather than exploiting vulnerabilities. Learn about the taxonomy of honeypot techniques and the development of HoneyBadger, a tool using symbolic execution to expose these contracts. Discover the prevalence, behavior, and impact of honeypots on the Ethereum blockchain, including insights from a large-scale analysis of over 2 million smart contracts. Gain valuable knowledge about the identification of 690 honeypot contracts, 240 victims, and the accumulated profit of more than $90,000 for honeypot creators. Understand the high precision and efficiency of the HoneyBadger tool, as well as the manual validation process confirming 87% of reported contracts as genuine honeypots.