Audit log

Every state-changing event for Pickle Finance: moderation decisions on community submissions, plus corrections and updates from the news pipeline. URL-based decisions are designed to carry three independent witnesses — the original source, an Internet Archive snapshot, and a Solana memo signed by our publicly-disclosed publisher key. Archive coverage is still being backfilled, so each decision below reports its own snapshot status rather than assuming one exists.

1. #1publishby system:backfill

   2026-05-26 03:49:50Z
   Score: ? → ? (no score change)
   anchoranchored

   chain

   ●mainnet-betaslot 422,206,395

   sig

   4UrxGYfqxhnA…vUZ9SAqycopyexplorer ↗

   hash

   EWLoPrSpYZSU…2gptBCL6copysha256 → base58

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   canonical bytes (7618 B) ▸

   {"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"38261708-bdaf-4edf-8589-ff2c92a74fa2","kind":"publish","page_slug":"pickle","published_at":"2026-05-26T03:49:50.642Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"Pickle Finance","sections":[{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://cryptotesters.com/review/what-is-pickle-finance","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://chainstack.com/pickle-finance-on-chainstack-accelerating-growth-into-new-networks/","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://docs.pickle.finance","type":"other","url":""}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://rekt.news/pickle-finance-rekt","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.halborn.com/blog/post/explained-the-defi-protocol-pickle-finance-hack-nov-2020","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://picklefinance.medium.com/pickle-was-hacked-and-there-has-been-a-loss-of-funds-414b99969c29","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://decrypt.co/49149/pickle-finance-hack","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/defi-protocol-pickle-finance-token-loses-almost-half-its-value-after-$19.7m-hack-2020-11","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://github.com/banteg/evil-jar","type":"other","url":""}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://github.com/pickle-finance/protocol/blob/master/audits/Haechi_Audit.pdf","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://docs.pickle.finance/security/audits-and-timelock/smart-contract-audits","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://rekt.news/pickle-finance-rekt","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://beincrypto.com/pickle-finance-postmortem-details-how-19-million-dai-was-pilfered/","type":"other","url":""}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://coverprotocol.medium.com/11-21-20-claim-outcome-for-pickle-finance-aa2fcc56cb7c","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/decentralized-insurance-protocol-cover-holds-vote-to-cover-pickle-hack","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://beincrypto.com/pickle-finance-loses-20-million-in-latest-defi-exploit/","type":"other","url":""}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://cryptonews.net/news/security/6222707/","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://en.ethereumworldnews.com/2020s-pickle-finance-hackers-launder-1800-ethereum-through-tornado-cash/","type":"other","url":""}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://beincrypto.com/yearn-finance-consumes-pickle-without-governance-vote/","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2020/11/24/yearning-for-pickle-two-defi-protocols-merge","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/yearn-finance-absorbs-pickle-to-boost-defi-rewards","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://gov.yearn.finance/t/retroactive-vote-on-pickle-yearn-ferments/8306","type":"other","url":""}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/pickle-finance/","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/pickle-finance","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://defillama.com/protocol/pickle","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://picklefinance.medium.com/pickle-finance-closing-the-jar-7996fe4ecd94","type":"other","url":""}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://picklefinance.medium.com/pickle-finance-closing-the-jar-7996fe4ecd94","type":"other","url":""}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://cryptotesters.com/review/what-is-pickle-finance","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.publish0x.com/arkemmus-blog/pickle-finance-defi-with-a-cucumber-flavour-xgpnznp","type":"other","url":""}]}],"sources_used":[],"summary":"Pickle Finance was an Ethereum-based DeFi yield aggregator launched in September 2020 that suffered a critical smart contract exploit on November 21, 2020, resulting in the theft of approximately 19.76 million DAI (roughly $19.7 million) from its pDAI PickleJar. The exploit, known as the 'Evil Jar Attack,' combined three design flaws in unaudited contract code and led to a 50% collapse in the PICKLE token price, with hack proceeds later laundered through Tornado Cash. The protocol subsequently merged with Yearn Finance but never meaningfully recovered; it officially announced its shutdown in 2025 with the UI disabled on October 1, 2025.","timeline":[{"date":"2020-09-01","event":"Pickle Finance launches on Ethereum as a yield aggregator offering Pickle Jars and Pickle Farms.","source":""},{"date":"2020-10-03","event":"MixBytes completes a security audit of Pickle Finance smart contracts (ControllerV3 scope).","source":""},{"date":"2020-10-20","event":"Haechi completes a security audit of Pickle Finance smart contracts (ControllerV3 scope).","source":""},{"date":"2020-10-23","event":"ControllerV4 and the swapExactJarForJar function are deployed to production without undergoing a security audit.","source":""},{"date":"2020-11-21","event":"Attacker exploits three chained vulnerabilities in ControllerV4 and drains 19,759,355 DAI from the pDAI PickleJar in the Evil Jar Attack. PICKLE token falls approximately 50%.","source":""},{"date":"2020-11-22","event":"Pickle Finance executes an emergency timelock transaction at 15:15 UTC to revoke the exploited proxy logic from the Controller. White-hat team secures remaining $50 million in assets. Official postmortem published.","source":""},{"date":"2020-11-24","event":"Yearn Finance announces merger with Pickle Finance, characterized as DeFi's first M&A deal, without a prior community governance vote from either protocol.","source":""},{"date":"2020-11-25","event":"PICKLE token surges to approximately $27 on merger announcement.","source":""},{"date":"2020-12-01","event":"Cover Protocol approves Pickle Finance insurance claim; 282,035 DAI paid out, covering less than 2% of total losses.","source":""},{"date":"2020-12-01","event":"Developers 0xPenguin and BigBrainBriner depart Pickle Finance.","source":""},{"date":"2021-02-09","event":"PICKLE token reaches all-time high of approximately $34.35 before entering a sustained decline.","source":""},{"date":"2021-01-01","event":"Stolen funds from the November 2020 exploit are laundered through Tornado Cash in batches of 100 ETH; total of 1,800 ETH moved through the mixer according to PeckShieldAlert.","source":""},{"date":"2022-01-01","event":"Bear market conditions sharply reduce Pickle Finance TVL and user activity; the protocol struggles to compete in the saturated yield aggregator market.","source":""},{"date":"2025-06-10","event":"Pickle Finance takes a snapshot of PICKLE and DILL holders for treasury distribution eligibility (minimum 300 PICKLE required).","source":""},{"date":"2025-10-01","event":"Pickle Finance UI is disabled. Protocol officially sunsets after approximately five years. Remaining 170,280 USDC treasury distributed to eligible token holders.","source":""}]},"v":1}

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2. #2reviewby reviewerreviewer

   2026-09-02 00:39:37Z
   Score: 18 → 18 (no score change)
   The page's core narrative -- the November 21, 2020 Evil Jar exploit, its technical mechanism, the audit-scope gap, the Cover Protocol payout shortfall, the Yearn merger governance controversy, and the 2025 shutdown -- is well corroborated by independent, largely consistent reporting. The most significant issue found is a timeline date error (the Tornado Cash laundering event is dated 2021 on the page but the page's own cited source places it in May 2022), plus minor imprecision in TVL peak figures ($140M vs. a $347M September spike reported elsewhere) and an uncorroborated 'DeFi's first merger' superlative. Two of the cited URLs (en.ethereumworldnews.com, publish0x.com) appear to be dead or unreachable, though the underlying claims they support are corroborated elsewhere.
   anchoranchored

   chain

   ●mainnet-betaslot 443,561,821

   sig

   2DcspyjhYC3F…brFra1u6copyexplorer ↗

   hash

   4sT1etCPEs3F…7ScWYPwRcopysha256 → base58

   verifying row…full verify ↗

   canonical bytes (1198 B) ▸

   {"actor":"reviewer","artifact_identity":"0d45498bf787837d5dfac8fbde9b7226","decided_at":"2026-09-02T00:39:37.039Z","decision":"review","disputed_pct":0.2,"investigation_id":"38261708-bdaf-4edf-8589-ff2c92a74fa2","new_score":18,"page_slug":"pickle","prev_score":18,"reason":"The page's core narrative -- the November 21, 2020 Evil Jar exploit, its technical mechanism, the audit-scope gap, the Cover Protocol payout shortfall, the Yearn merger governance controversy, and the 2025 shutdown -- is well corroborated by independent, largely consistent reporting. The most significant issue found is a timeline date error (the Tornado Cash laundering event is dated 2021 on the page but the page's own cited source places it in May 2022), plus minor imprecision in TVL peak figures ($140M vs. a $347M September spike reported elsewhere) and an uncorroborated 'DeFi's first merger' superlative. Two of the cited URLs (en.ethereumworldnews.com, publish0x.com) appear to be dead or unreachable, though the underlying claims they support are corroborated elsewhere.","score_delta":0,"sequence_num":2,"submission_content_hash":null,"submission_id":null,"submission_kind":null,"submission_valence":null,"v":1}

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3. #3review reviseby judgejudge

   2026-09-02 00:39:37Z
   Score: 18 → 10 (-8)
   The page's central narrative -- the November 2020 Evil Jar exploit, its technical mechanism, the audit-scope gap, the shortfall in Cover Protocol compensation, the Yearn merger governance controversy, and the 2025 shutdown -- is independently confirmed by multiple sources (claim_findings[0,1,4,5,6,7,8,10,12,14]). The reviewer disputed only one claim: the page dates the Tornado Cash laundering of stolen funds to 2021, but the page's own cited source places that event around May 2022 (claim_findings[9]), a roughly 1.5-year date error that should be corrected. Two claims are unverifiable due to unreachable sources rather than contradicted evidence (claim_findings[2,13]), and two others are only partially supported due to figures that vary across sources -- a lower TVL peak than one outlet reported, and an unsourced 'first merger' superlative (claim_findings[3,11]). No coverage gap was flagged as high priority, so no expansion is required for approval, but the timeline error and the loosely sourced superlative should be fixed.
   anchoranchored

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   ●mainnet-betaslot 443,561,823

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   5ncruAaqbAqM…zinE3jYacopyexplorer ↗

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   8eS5SHjcgNyw…BjbLebrYcopysha256 → base58

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   canonical bytes (1505 B) ▸

   {"actor":"judge","artifact_identity":"0d45498bf787837d5dfac8fbde9b7226","band_override":null,"decided_at":"2026-09-02T00:39:37.039Z","decision":"review_revise","delist_requested":false,"disputed_pct":0.2,"investigation_id":"38261708-bdaf-4edf-8589-ff2c92a74fa2","new_score":10,"page_slug":"pickle","prev_score":18,"reason":"The page's central narrative -- the November 2020 Evil Jar exploit, its technical mechanism, the audit-scope gap, the shortfall in Cover Protocol compensation, the Yearn merger governance controversy, and the 2025 shutdown -- is independently confirmed by multiple sources (claim_findings[0,1,4,5,6,7,8,10,12,14]). The reviewer disputed only one claim: the page dates the Tornado Cash laundering of stolen funds to 2021, but the page's own cited source places that event around May 2022 (claim_findings[9]), a roughly 1.5-year date error that should be corrected. Two claims are unverifiable due to unreachable sources rather than contradicted evidence (claim_findings[2,13]), and two others are only partially supported due to figures that vary across sources -- a lower TVL peak than one outlet reported, and an unsourced 'first merger' superlative (claim_findings[3,11]). No coverage gap was flagged as high priority, so no expansion is required for approval, but the timeline error and the loosely sourced superlative should be fixed.","score_delta":-8,"sequence_num":3,"submission_content_hash":null,"submission_id":null,"submission_kind":null,"submission_valence":null,"v":1}

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