In a bold move to highlight the discrepancies in blockchain gaming, Kautuk Kundan, the founder and CEO of Stackr Labs, has claimed responsibility for hacking Atari’s “on-chain” Asteroids game. This sabotage aimed to demonstrate that the game, built on Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network, Base, was not truly operating on the blockchain as advertised.
Hacking for Truth: Kundan’s Bold Claim
On August 6, Kundan took to X (formerly Twitter) to reveal that he and his team at Stackr Labs had manipulated the leaderboard of Atari’s newly launched Asteroids game. According to Kundan, this was done without even playing the game. His main argument? The game wasn’t genuinely on-chain, despite its claims.
“The game is not actually on-chain. When the user starts the game, nothing happens on-chain,” Kundan stated. “When you get a score, you submit that score via an API call.” This revelation suggests that rather than recording game data on the blockchain, the game relies on Web2 servers, which can be easily manipulated.
Kundan’s team was able to alter the official scoreboard simply by sending API calls to these servers. This action demonstrated how the game’s leaderboard could be tampered with, raising concerns about the integrity of the game’s claimed “on-chain” functionality. Kundan cautioned that while his team hadn’t modified other scores, others could exploit the system for their gain.
Asteroids Game: What’s at Stake?
Atari’s Asteroids game, launched on July 25 in collaboration with Coinbase’s Base, offered players the chance to compete for prizes, including a $1,000 Atari gift card. The game’s promise of being “on-chain” was part of its appeal, positioning it as a cutting-edge, blockchain-integrated experience. However, Kundan’s actions have cast doubt on the authenticity of this claim.
Kundan used this incident to advocate for what he calls Proof of Gameplay, a system developed by Stackr Labs. This Ethereum roll-up technology aims to ensure that games and other products that claim to be “on-chain” are truly verifiable on the blockchain.
Improving Blockchain Gaming: Kundan’s Mission
Kundan emphasized that his hack wasn’t a “negative call-out” but rather an effort to spotlight and address persistent issues within the blockchain gaming space. “Even if the app runs off-chain, it should produce commitments that are on-chain verifiable,” he argued.
His goal is to push for greater transparency and accountability in blockchain applications, advocating for systems that genuinely uphold the principles of decentralization and immutability that are central to blockchain technology.
Through this dramatic demonstration, Kundan aims to catalyze improvements in the industry, ensuring that blockchain gaming lives up to its promises and delivers true on-chain experiences for users.
