Hypernative, a Web3 security company, has saved over $3 billion in client funds through its AI-powered pre-execution threat detection platform, according to Shawn Lim, the company's VP of Asia. The platform serves more than 350 institutions across DeFi protocols and traditional financial entities entering blockchain infrastructure. Lim attributes the rising threat landscape to attackers targeting the human layer through social engineering and device compromise rather than solely exploiting smart contract vulnerabilities. Hypernative's Transaction Guard product scans transactions across 80+ blockchains before execution, using machine learning models to identify anomalous patterns and prevent irreversible losses. The company holds SOC 2 certification and provides institutional-grade security features including role separation, audit trails, and regulatory compliance frameworks tailored to different jurisdictions.
Hypernative Identifies Human-Layer Vulnerabilities as Primary Attack Vector
Lim stated that recent incidents including Drift and KelpDAO involved targeted attacks executed through social engineering and compromise of personal devices belonging to protocol personnel. "Attackers are no longer only targeting smart contract vulnerabilities; they're targeting the human layer," Lim said. He explained that exploiters compromise devices through phishing scams or malware, often without the victim's awareness, creating openings that attackers use at precisely chosen moments. Lim described the personal devices of infrastructure operators as the weakest link in protocol security.
Transaction Guard Scans Blockchain Activity Across 80+ Networks
Hypernative's Transaction Guard product operates above the wallet infrastructure layer, analyzing every transaction before on-chain execution. The system detects anomalous transactions relative to preset policies established by client teams. Lim explained that the platform integrates threat intelligence on known drainer contracts and phishing addresses into its policy engine. The company reads blockchain data on a block-by-block basis across more than 80 integrated networks. Machine learning and AI models analyze state changes at the byte code level and run simulations to identify threat patterns. The detection system examines behavioral indicators including exploit funding methods, contract deployment patterns, connections to cryptocurrency mixers, and links to known phishing addresses. Large language models power the detection capabilities, according to Lim.
Hypernative Reports $3 Billion in Client Funds Protected
Based on company estimations, Hypernative has saved more than $3 billion worth of funds across clients and protocols through its threat detections. Lim cited the Balancer exploit as a public example where the company detected the potential exploit early. The directly affected contracts were legacy unpausable pools with no mechanism to halt losses, resulting in over $100 million lost. For newer composable pools equipped with pause functions, Hypernative's detection saved approximately $20 million, according to Lim. He stated that without the solution in place for those pools, losses would have been substantially larger. Lim indicated the company has handled numerous similar cases where asset managers avoided significant losses through Hypernative's risk detection.
Company Addresses Fraud Detection Needs in Asia-Pacific Region
Lim identified exchanges, payment providers, stablecoin issuers, and financial institutions serving retail customers as the most exposed participants to on-chain fraud in the Asia-Pacific region. He stated that end users of these institutions face investment scams, romance scams, and phishing websites. Hypernative offers a fraud detection solution designed to minimize investigation overhead for large exchanges while maintaining detection accuracy to prevent customer losses, according to Lim.
Hypernative Provides Compliance Frameworks for Institutional Clients
Traditional financial institutions entering Web3 infrastructure face challenges related to atomic settlement on blockchains, where executed transactions become essentially final, according to Lim. He explained that these institutions have built operations on traditional rails with stopgap measures allowing intervention at multiple process points, but blockchain settlement speed requires faster detection and response capabilities. When implementing runtime defense for institutions, Hypernative protects core infrastructure and smart contracts deployed on-chain from real-time exploits. Lim stated the company spends significant time educating institutional clients on the Web3 threat landscape. Institutions carry specific additional requirements including regulatory reporting obligations, reputational risk considerations, and accountability to regulators and stakeholders, according to Lim. Hypernative configures threat detection frameworks around these constraints and works directly with regulatory jurisdictions where institutions issue assets, translating regional requirements into monitoring frameworks within the platform.
Lim Identifies AI-Enabled Attacks as Emerging Threat
Lim stated the threat landscape is intensifying and identified AI—including frontier models like Anthropic's Mythos—as a concern for enabling more sophisticated attack strategies against protocols and infrastructure. He said Hypernative is advising clients to implement robust runtime defense and clear security measures in anticipation of AI-enabled threats. Lim noted that AI is enabling teams to build in-house detection tools, but observed that those solutions do not scale well. He stated that Hypernative's proprietary intellectual property developed over years—particularly the ability to detect threats before execution—differentiates the company from surface-level transaction tracing solutions.
FAQ
What is Hypernative's Transaction Guard product?
Transaction Guard is a pre-execution threat detection system that operates above wallet infrastructure, scanning and analyzing every transaction before it executes on-chain across 80+ integrated blockchains. The product uses AI and machine learning models to detect anomalous transactions relative to client-defined policies and embedded threat intelligence.
How much in client funds has Hypernative protected?
According to Shawn Lim, VP of Asia at Hypernative, the company estimates it has saved more than $3 billion worth of funds across clients and protocols through its threat detections. One public example is the Balancer exploit, where Hypernative's early detection saved approximately $20 million in newer composable pools equipped with pause functions.
What security requirements does Hypernative provide for institutional clients?
Hypernative provides institutional-grade features including SOC 2 certification, separation of roles and responsibilities, full audit trails, business continuity redundancy planning, and regulatory compliance frameworks tailored to different jurisdictions where institutions issue assets.
