Facebook's Libra Project Launches Bug Bounty With $10,000 Max Reward

Facebook is gunning to get more external contributions to the cryptocurrency project Libra, starting with a bug bounty program that pays security researchers up to $10,000 in rewards.

The Libra Association, a nonprofit backed by a coalition.

"There's a variable amount of rewards based on bugs," Diogo Monica, Anchorage cofounder and Libra Association member, told CoinDesk.

The Libra Association is expanding the beta program with 50 external researchers to welcome any member of the public to report vulnerabilities in the code, through a partnership with the HackerOne bug bounty platform.

"We hope that developers will bring a diversity of perspectives and expertise to this initiative while holding the Libra Blockchain to the highest security standard," Aanchal Gupta, security director at Facebook subsidiary Calibra, said in a statement.

Such bounty programs are the norm in cybersecurity circles, offering significant value to the project with regards to both insights and public trust.

Plus, Libra Association communications lead Dante Disparte added that the Libra testnet is still under development.

"Some of the initiatives that Libra Association is doing is very forward-thinking," Jesse Spiro, head of policy at the blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, told CoinDesk.

Overall, there are already developers experimenting with the Libra testnet, including dozens of teams that applied to the Libracamp.

"We will not launch the Libra Blockchain until regulatory concerns have been taken into account and required regulatory approvals have been received."