Stars Arena
Summary
Stars Arena was an Avalanche-based SocialFi protocol launched on September 27, 2023, modeled closely on Friend.tech, allowing users to trade tokenized access to creators. Within ten days of launch the platform suffered two sequential smart contract exploits, with the second on October 7, 2023 draining approximately $2.9 million in AVAX through a reentrancy vulnerability — the entirety of its TVL. Following a partial fund recovery via bounty negotiation and a security audit, the platform was acquired by a new team in November 2023, rebranded as The Arena, and relaunched with a rebuilt contract.
Connected Entities
1 entities · 10 linked investigationsTimeline(11 events)
2023-09-27
Stars Arena launches on Avalanche, developed by pseudonymous 'theBuilder'. Platform modeled on Friend.tech, allowing trading of creator access tickets. TVL grows 3,400% to $1 million within the first week.
CoinGecko / Altcoin Buzz2023-10-05
First exploit: a broken getPrice() function allows an attacker to drain approximately $2,000 from the contract. The attack is economically inefficient, costing more in gas than it yields. Security researcher @0xlilitch publicly flags the vulnerability.
The Block2023-10-05
Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer publicly dismisses the vulnerability, characterizing the exploit as economically irrational and calling community concern 'FUD'. Stars Arena team calls it 'coordinated FUD' and deploys a new, unverified replacement contract.
CoinTelegraph2023-10-07
Second exploit: A reentrancy vulnerability in the new contract's sellShares() function is exploited. The attacker manipulates a share-price weighting variable during a deposit callback, draining 266,103 AVAX (approximately $2.9 million), the entirety of the platform's TVL. Funds are dispersed across 266 wallets. A subsequent DDoS attack disrupts the team's communications.
CoinDesk2023-10-07
Stars Arena suspends platform operations and posts a security notice advising users not to deposit funds. Smart contract attacker address identified as 0xa2Ebf3FCD757e9BE1E58B643b6B5077D11b4ad7A.
CertiK Incident Analysis2023-10-11
Stars Arena announces it has reached a bounty agreement with the exploiter. The attacker agrees to return approximately 90% of stolen funds in exchange for a 27,610 AVAX bounty (~$257,000) plus 1,000 AVAX. The exploiter signals cooperation via an on-chain signed message.
CoinDesk2023-10-12
Stars Arena confirms recovery of approximately 90% of stolen funds and announces it has secured outside funding to cover the remaining shortfall, committing to make all users whole upon relaunch. Platform announces pending audit by Paladin before reopening.
CryptoSlate2023-11-01
Stars Arena is acquired by a new team following near-collapse of the original project. Original pseudonymous developer 'theBuilder' exits. Contract is fully rewritten and submitted for independent Paladin security audit.
Avax.network official blog2023-12-07
Platform rebrands from Stars Arena to The Arena (arena.social) under new management.
CoinLive2024-10-01
The Arena closes a $2 million pre-seed funding round with investors including Blizzard (Avalanche Ecosystem Fund), Ava Labs leadership, Balaji Srinivasan, Abstract Ventures, and D1 Ventures. Platform reports 200,000+ registered users.
Avax.network official blog2025-05-01
The Arena launches V2, incorporating a bonding-curve token launchpad and native DEX. The DEX clears approximately $25 million in volume in its first week.
The Block ResearchDecision Log
- hash: 6P8Ef2nq3fztHuQipZ4uTKiboT19GFjyrCahgCRghuvc
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 5/31/2026, 7:00:12 AM
last updated: 5/31/2026, 7:00:16 AM
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