Arena SocialFi
Last changed 2026-11-02 · Fact-check review — Fact-check review (verdict: revise): the reviewer checked the page's claims against its sources; the trust score did not change. Version history →
Why this score
| Every page starts at | 65 |
| Concerns that are not fraud | -10.4 |
| Incidents it suffered (e.g. hacks) | -14.4 |
| Problems around it, caused by others | -1.4 |
| Long-running | +4 |
| Sum | 43 |
Score: 53/100 (kept between 0 and 100)
How scoring works →Page reliability: Fact-checked 2026-11-02 · 6 of 7 claims confirmed · 1 need better sources
anchored·3cYig7…kcr7Summary
Arena SocialFi, launched as Stars Arena on Avalanche in September 2023 and later rebranded as The Arena (arena.social), is a friend.tech-style SocialFi platform where users trade tokenised access to creators. On October 7, 2023, a reentrancy exploit in its unaudited contract drained 266,103 AVAX (about $2.9 million); about 90% was returned under a bounty agreement and the shortfall was covered with outside funding. The original pseudonymous team then dissolved, a new named team acquired and rebuilt the platform after a Paladin audit, raised $2 million in pre-seed funding in 2024 and launched the ARENA token, which has since fallen about 96% from its all-time high.
Connected Entities
8 entities · 60 linked investigations- Stars Arena→mentioned with→Avalanche(70%)
- Arena SocialFi→mentioned with→ZachXBT(70%)
- Arena SocialFi→mentioned with→Avalanche(70%)
- Arena SocialFi→mentioned with→Base(60%)
- Friend Tech→mentioned with→Base(70%)
- Friend Tech→mentioned with→ZachXBT(70%)
- Arena SocialFi→mentioned with→Stars Arena(80%)
- Avalanche→mentioned with→Stars Arena(80%)
- Stars Arena→mentioned with→LayerZero — DVN Single-Verifier Configuration Risk(60%)
- Stars Arena→mentioned with→Friend Tech(80%)
- + 1 more
Connected Through
7 shared actors · 498 investigationsDistinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.
- □ZachXBTorganization
- □Baseorganization
- ⌂LayerZero — DVN Single-Verifier Configuration Riskprotocol
- □Avalancheorganization
Timeline(18 events)
September 2023
Stars Arena launches on Avalanche C-Chain as a friend.tech competitor, built by pseudonymous developer 'theBuilder'; TVL grows 3,400% to $1 million within the first week.
Exploring Stars Arena: A Guide to the Avalanche Social App — CoinGeckoOctober 2023
First exploit: a broken getPrice() function lets an attacker drain about $2,000 in AVAX, costing more in gas than it yields; researcher @0xlilitch publicly flags the vulnerability.
Stars Arena faces vulnerability that can potentially let users drain funds — The BlockOctober 2023
Emin Gün Sirer publicly downplays the first exploit; the Stars Arena team calls concern 'coordinated FUD' and deploys a new, unverified replacement contract.
SocialFi app Stars Arena dispels 'coordinated FUD' after patching 'noob' vulnerability — CoinTelegraphOctober 2023
Second exploit: a reentrancy flaw in sellShares() is used to drain 266,103 AVAX (~$2.9M), the platform's entire TVL, leaving the contract with under $1; funds are dispersed across 266 wallets and a DDoS attack disrupts the team's communications.
Avalanche Social App Stars Arena Drained of $3M in AVAX After Hack — CoinDeskOctober 2023
Stars Arena suspends operations and warns users not to deposit funds; CertiK identifies attacker address 0xa2Ebf3FCD757e9BE1E58B643b6B5077D11b4ad7A.
Stars Arena Incident Analysis — CertiKOctober 2023
Stars Arena announces a bounty agreement: the exploiter returns about 90% of the stolen funds for 27,610 AVAX (~$257,000) plus 1,000 AVAX, after signalling cooperation via a signed on-chain message.
Stars Arena Recovered 90% of the Funds Lost to Hack After Bounty Paid — CoinDeskOctober 2023
Stars Arena confirms the ~90% recovery, says it has secured outside funding to cover the shortfall and make users whole, and announces a Paladin audit of a new contract before reopening.
Stars Arena secures funding to plug $3M shortfall — CryptoSlateNovember 2023
CEO 'Chill Pill' steps down and team member 'Kook' resigns citing management issues.
theblock.coNovember 2023
Stars Arena is acquired by a new team; 'theBuilder' exits, and the contract is fully rewritten and submitted for a Paladin audit.
The Arena's Comeback: SocialFi App on Avalanche Secures $2M Pre-Seed Funding — Avax.networkDecember 2023
Platform rebrands from Stars Arena to The Arena (arena.social) under new management, per CoinLive.
Stars Arena Rebrands to The Arena — CoinLive2024
Platform relaunches as The Arena under CEO Jason Desimone and COO Phillip Liu Jr. with a rebuilt contract (dated early 2024 on one page).
theblock.coSeptember 2024
The Arena announces the ARENA token, with 10 billion total supply and an airdrop to existing users based on platform points.
decrypt.coOctober 2024
The Arena closes a $2 million pre-seed round (Blizzard, Ava Labs leadership, Balaji Srinivasan, Abstract Ventures, D1 Ventures and others), announced on the Avalanche Foundation blog, and reports 200,000+ registered users.
The Arena's Comeback: SocialFi App on Avalanche Secures $2M Pre-Seed Funding — Avax.networkDecember 2024
The Arena's X account is compromised in a phishing campaign that, per ZachXBT, breached 15+ X accounts and netted the attacker ~$500,000 through meme coin scams.
cryptonews.comMay 2025
The Arena launches V2 with a bonding-curve token launchpad and native DEX, which clears about $25 million in volume in its first week.
Research Unlock: Arena and The Future of SocialFi — The BlockNovember 2025
The Arena announces a Monad Chain integration and Google/Apple sign-in as part of its V2 multichain expansion.
May 2026
ARENA token trades at approximately $0.00089, about 96% below its all-time high.
Decision Log
- slot 464286097 · hash 3Vkjy9FhvecT1JoSpnMzuKQ3zLsLLjeE7cVDB2A2kRcY
- slot 464286093 · hash EbexwNpr8PG7qBUtSVst4CxXWwBLD1vsJt9XCnNa7zv2
- slot 464285788 · hash BxjehCMCrJ4y8GH4NPEYeM2vUibzHZXCn3sHTR49p4EE
- slot 455366711 · hash 4EBLyZgbs7iRBzKQKDaJ6EaEUhkdUbZ1H6whsAMvTFYk
- slot 422555107 · hash CVjBS6LmQYJawm6KFmVkmHeHWh27d8BBjRx4q6yisbmH
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (5 decisions). 35 of 35 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-code-merge-writer
generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:37 AM
last updated: 11/2/2026, 12:01:16 AM
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