# 0xSimao — Smart contract audits > 85 private audits for teams including Morpho, Maple Finance, Usual and Babylon. Sherlock's [2025 Watson of the Year](https://sherlock.xyz/post/the-2025-sherlock-watson-awards) and founding member of Blackthorn. 0xSimao is an independent smart contract security researcher. 85 private security reviews for teams including Morpho, Maple Finance, Usual and Babylon, covering $13.8B of protocol value; 57 public audit competitions entered with 21 first places and 30 top-3 finishes, and $627K in prizes. Founding member of Blackthorn and former Head of Security at Three Sigma. ## Contact - Telegram (fastest): https://t.me/OxSimao - X: https://x.com/0xSimao - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@0xSimao - Sherlock: https://audits.sherlock.xyz/watson/0x73696d616f - Cantina: https://cantina.xyz/u/simao - GitHub: https://github.com/0xsimao ## Record - **$13.8B** Value secured - **21** Contest wins - **778** Issues disclosed - **$627K** Contest prizes ## Featured case study > I've had the pleasure to work with Simao over the last few years where he has completed numerous audits for Maple Finance. Each time he's been thorough, finding niche issues missed in prior audits and helping us improve the design and security of the system. I would highly recommend him to audit any protocol. > > Maple Recent report: [Spirit Protocol](https://github.com/0xsimao/audits/blob/main/0xSimao/2025-11-28-spirit-protocol.pdf) — AI revenue sharing, 2025-11-28, 1 critical, 2 high, 1 medium, 1 low, 2 info ## Track Record Competitions, private engagements and firm leadership. ### {top3} top-3 finishes Public audit competitions, where researchers compete to surface vulnerabilities. $627K in prizes across {competitions} competitions. ### {audits} private audits Private security reviews spanning lending, stablecoins, perpetuals, restaking and cross-chain infrastructure. ### 2025 Watson of the Year Sherlock's award for the researcher with the greatest impact on the platform in 2025. Read Sherlock's announcement: https://sherlock.xyz/post/the-2025-sherlock-watson-awards ### Founding member of Blackthorn One of the founding members of Blackthorn, an audit firm formed from established Web3 security professionals. ### Former Head of Security, Three Sigma Ran the security department and led more than {three_sigma} audits. ### Top-ranked on Code4rena Placed in the top 3 over a 90-day period on Code4rena. ### Top-ranked on Cantina {cantina_top3} top-3 finishes across {cantina} Cantina competitions. Source: https://cantina.xyz/u/simao ### {solo} solo findings Vulnerabilities no other researcher submitted, including in competitions with 600+ participants. ### {listed} published findings Every finding published, from the competitions entered and the reviews worked on. Findings database: /findings ## Audit Process Fast, transparent and effective, including a fix-verification pass most reviews skip. ### Quick Quote Contact me anytime; I’ll deliver an accurate quote in minutes, thanks to my deep expertise. ### Security Review I’ll set up a dedicated GitHub repository and a real-time chat channel to share findings instantly. The review process will be manual with AI assistance, and I’ll create tests as needed. ### Fix Verification I’ll thoroughly review your implemented fixes and all related code changes to confirm every issue is fully resolved and no new bugs are introduced. ### Final Report You’ll receive a professionally formatted report including all the findings and corresponding fixes. ## Community Notes Unsolicited feedback from the Web3 security community. ### Jack Sanford “Really excited to see 0xSimao joining Blackthorn as the 10th founding member. He proved it's still possible to crack the top 5 on Sherlock's leaderboard in this day and age, achieving it a few days ago. And he's a really nice guy.” Source: https://x.com/jack__sanford/status/1868740416750989714 ### Three Sigma “What a legend! Thank you for sharing and it was our pleasure to be part of your journey. You are really one of the greats in the space. GG well played sir.” Source: https://x.com/threesigmaxyz/status/1889690132749439094 ### InfectedCrypto “0xSimao is a beast, I really like his kind of findings, excelling at identifying tricky numerical corner cases. Sometimes I wonder if he's actually a human fuzzer. You should definitely check him on Solodit and take notes.” Source: https://x.com/InfectedCrypto/status/1808239560909840863 ### Mackenzie “Giga-Senior SRs who can make $30k+/week all have something unusual you can't copy (@zachobront, @deadrosesxyz, @0xSimao, @lonelysloth_sec, etc) (...)” Source: https://x.com/0xMackenzieM/status/1909054335423783232 ## Testimonials From 8 protocols whose code went through this process. > I've had the pleasure to work with Simao over the last few years where he has completed numerous audits for Maple Finance. Each time he's been thorough, finding niche issues missed in prior audits and helping us improve the design and security of the system. I would highly recommend him to audit any protocol. > > Maple > 0xSimao is an absolute pro who really went above and beyond during our audit. It can be hard to find auditors like Simao who have such a high degree of integrity that they are willing to spend time verifying reported issues have been addressed correctly. Others just move on to the next project, but Simao was with us every step of the way. I cant recommend Simao enough, and we will definitely try to work with him in the future. > > Nerite > As our Lead Senior Watson for the first audit competition of the Beraborrow codebase, 0xSimao demonstrated clear proficiency. He identified one third of the verified issues in a 6.2k SLOC codebase, a testament to his thoroughness and auditing skills. Additionally, his contributions during the fix review process were instrumental in uncovering further issues. His dedication to client security, transparent communication, and client success is exemplary. > > Beraborrow > 0xSimao was our Lead Senior Watson for Superfluid Locker System audit competition. He quickly demonstrated a total understanding of the protocol, its goal and mechanics. Regarding performance, we were glad to have him contribute to our audit. All of the final 3 High and 3 Medium severity issues raised during the audit were discovered by 0xSimao. Communication was crystal clear, questions were pertinent. It was a really pleasant experience to collaborate with him during the Sherlock contest. Finally, 0xSimao’s reactivity and advice were very appreciated during the fix review process. He allowed us to successfully strengthen our protocol security with confidence. We most definitely recommend working with 0xSimao to protocols and teams expecting professionalism. > > Superfluid > We had the opportunity to work with 0xSimao as the Lead Senior Watson for the Mento x Good$ Integration audit. He identified multiple issues with exceptional thoroughness and ensured that each one was properly addressed and mitigated. We would be glad to work with him again in the future. > > Mento > 0xSimao, during his audit with PoolTogether, was the sole auditor to discover a complex, high-severity issue that demonstrated his experience and deep understanding of the codebase. His thorough review was instrumental in ensuring the security and longevity of the core protocol. > > PoolTogether > During the Autonomint audit conducted alongside Sherlock, 0xSimao stood out for his remarkable expertise. He completely understood how the codebase works and uncovered 52% of the confirmed issues, a clear indication of his exceptional eye for detail and robust auditing capability. His proactive role in the remediation review further brought additional issues to light. We definitely recommend working with 0xSimao. > > Autonomint > It was a pleasure to work with 0xSimao as the Lead Senior Watson during our Sherlock audit contest for the Deli Swap contracts. He demonstrated deep knowledge of the underlying stack (Uniswap v4), discovered most of the high-level issues raised, and had great communication with us every step of the way. We would highly recommend him to audit a protocol and look forward to collaborating further on our protocol’s security in the future. > > BMX ## Questions ### Who is 0xSimao? An independent smart contract security researcher. 85 private security reviews across 59 protocols, 57 public audit competitions entered with 21 first places, a founding member of Blackthorn and formerly Head of Security at Three Sigma. ### What kinds of protocol does 0xSimao audit? Lending, stablecoins, perpetuals, restaking and cross-chain infrastructure, along with oracles, vaults and the arithmetic underneath them. The full list of 85 engagements, each with its category, is on the private audits page. ### How does the audit process work? Four steps. A quote, delivered in minutes from the repository and scope. The review itself, in a dedicated GitHub repository with a real-time chat channel so findings arrive as they are found, manual, with AI assistance, and with tests written where they are needed. A fix-verification pass over the implemented fixes and every related change. Then a formatted final report of the findings and their fixes. ### Is fix verification included? Yes. The implemented fixes and all related code changes are reviewed to confirm each issue is fully resolved and that no new bug was introduced. It is a pass most reviews skip. ### How long does it take to get a quote? Minutes. Send the repository and the scope over Telegram at https://t.me/OxSimao. ### What is delivered at the end of a review? A professionally formatted report with every finding and the corresponding fix. 45 of the reports from past engagements are published and linked from the private audits page. ### How do I request an audit? Message https://t.me/OxSimao with the repository and the scope. ### What is the Contest Academy? The teaching side of the same work: 33 deep dives into real vulnerabilities, how each was found, why it was missed and what it paid, plus the mentorship series and guidance for competitive auditing. ## Ready to secure your protocol? Send the repo and scope for a quote within minutes. Message https://t.me/OxSimao with the repository and the scope.