About

I'm Joe Stakey, a security researcher and founder of Eraikey Labs. I audit onchain protocols and appchains across EVM, Solana, Starknet, and Cosmos — focusing on the economic and logic bugs that matter before an attacker does. Eraikey Labs is a small senior team and every engagement runs through me directly.

What I focus on

DeFi is where I do my deepest work — lending markets, AMMs, vaults, staking systems and more. The hardest bugs there are not just logic errors, but broken invariants, mathematical flaws and boundary gaps. I also review appchain and protocol infrastructure where most boutiques don't go: custom Cosmos SDK modules, cross-chain messaging, and EVM-on-BFT integrations (BeaconKit-style stacks). These systems tend to fail at the edges (between modules, between consensus and execution, across the bridge surface) and that is exactly where I focus.

Track record

My experience is grounded in competitive audit environments, where findings are benchmarked directly against leading researchers. Across Code4rena and Sherlock I have placed 1st once, with a presence in the Top-10 in 16 contests, and 47 Top-25 placements. Through Immunefi, I have identified critical vulnerabilities in systems that had already undergone prior audits. I was ranked 16th on Immunefiin the year 2023.

How I work

I review by reasoning about invariants and edge cases, not by pattern-matching known vulnerability classes. Confirmed findings come with a working proof of concept, making issues undeniable and fixes verifiable. More on methodology and deliverables on the services page. For larger or higher-risk engagements, a vetted second senior reviewer provides independent, four-eyes coverage. More assurance without diluting depth. If you're shipping something that holds real value, let's talk before it goes live.