MerlinLab: Security Upgrades

Oen Soem
7 min readJun 15, 2021

review

Hello Everyone !!! Blockchain projects are appearing more and more, we are facing opportunities to access the world’s leading technology. I believe in a short time Blockchain will appear in all areas of life. Blockchain possesses a very special feature that transmits data without requiring an intermediary to confirm information. Blockchain system exists with many independent nodes capable of authenticating information without requiring “signs of belief”. Information in Blockchain cannot be changed and only added with the consent of all nodes in the system. This is a high security system against the possibility of data theft. Even when part of the Blockchain system collapses, other computers and nodes will continue to protect information and keep the network running.

Let’s say a little bit about DeFi, by leveraging the power of Blockchain is decentralized and transparent to create an open finance. In it, everyone can access and use it at any end, anytime without being influenced by any centralized individual or organization. And project https://www.merlinlab.com/ is a decentralized finance (DeFi) company that I want to introduce in this article.

About

Merlin (MERL) is a newly developed AMM platform on Binance Smart Chain , optimized to ensure safety and provide the highest return for participants.

Merlin’s competitive advantage lies in the fact that the platform will bear its own gas fees, monitor APY, organize security and build the most effective investment strategies with the goal of maximizing yield farming profits for users. (All APYs and APRs shown are inclusive of fees).

Not stopping there, realizing the benefits of auto-compounding as well as staking to receive high-value cryptocurrencies, Merlin will automatically calculate interest for the amount you have received. from yield farming, as well as allowing staking of the project’s MERL token to get back the top coins with the highest value, such as BTCB, ETH, BNB, CAKE, etc.

Ecosystem

The Merlin ecosystem begins with the Vaults. As users stake in the Merlin vaults, our algorithm optimized auto-compounding mechanism will compound users’ assets for maximum return. The vaults rewards will be in the form of LP rewards and $MERL. The $MERL portion of the reward is generated by the Boosted Yield Convertor. Boosted Yield Convertor maximizes user’s profits by converting 30% of their auto-compounding vault rewards with $MERL tokens, which will maximize users’ yield:

  • As the $MERL token appreciates, the users’ yield in turn increases
  • User can further stake their $MERL rewards to farm BTCB, ETH, BNB, CAKE rewards & more at high APYs

The collected Boosted Yield Convertor will be converted into BNBs and redistributed as MERL pool rewards at $MERL LP Treasury. For every 1 BNB converted through the Boosted Yield Convertor, 25 $MERL are minted (This is our launch emission rate, it will be decreased overtime to balance $MERL supply). Every 100 $MERL minted, 13 $MERL will be used to expand the Merlin product suites and global marketing activities

Merlin Ecosystem Flowchart

Security Upgrades

Flash Loans are the first uncollateralized loan option in DeFi. Flash Loans enable you to borrow instantly and easily, no collateral needed provided that the liquidity is returned to the pool within one transaction block. Unique properties of Flash Loans include:

  • Smart contracts: Flash loans require the use of smart contracts which will allow funds to change hands when certain rules are met
  • Unsecured loan: This lack of collateral doesn’t mean the flash loan lender will not get its money back. It’s just sent back in a different way. Instead of offering collateral, the borrower needs to pay back the money right away, which brings us to our next point.
  • Instant: Flash loans are instantaneous. The smart contract of the loan must be fulfilled in the same transaction that is lent out
  • Price manipulation: A common method of flash loan exploits is through Price Oracle Attacks or Price Manipulation, which gives attackers an opportunity to bag profits through arbitrage

Due to their unique characteristics and their cost-effective and low-risk nature, flash loans are often used to accelerate attacks in the DeFi space.

Merlin Lab’s Upgraded Security Strategy
In order to protect our community from any risks of flash loan attacks. The below changes have been implemented in the Merlin Lab codes to upgrade our security:

  1. Implementation of Fair LP Price calculation (by Alpha Homora) and the use of Fair Asset Price via Decentralized Price Oracle — Chainlink. The combination of fair asset price and fiar asset reserves enables Merlin to derive the fair LP token price that is unmanipulatable and safe from attack vectors such as flash loan attacks.
  2. Prevention of external smart contract interaction with Merlin smart contracts. Flash loan attacks are executed through smart contracts. Merlin has now implemented a stop on all external smart contracts to interact with Merlin’s contract. This means we have mitigated the risk of any flash loan attack within our protocol.

The Merlin team has taken further security measures to our community and users are protected:

3. Introduction of insurance policies — Merlin Lab is in the process of working out an insurance plan with Soteria. Once finalized, this will enable Merlin Lab users to purchase insurance to safeguards against smart contract failure and potential exploits. We hope that this will provide an additional layer of assurance for Merlin Lab users.

4. The recent security upgrades to our smart contract and code have already been communicated with Certik and Haechi Labs. Submission of this updated codebase will be reviewed and audited by the two firms in the next week.

User security has always been Merlin Lab’s top priority. Our development team has implemented routine checks of our smart contracts and codes to continuously bring improved security standards into the Merlin ecosystem.

Token

Token Name: Merlin
Ticker: MERL
Token Standard: BEP20 — Binance Smart Chain
Smart contract address: 0xda360309c59cb8c434b28a91b823344a96444278

Instructions on How to create a wallet and Buy MERL token tokens
Step 1: Install MetaMask and link MetaMask wallet to Binance Smart Chain. See detailed tutorial article of Coin68 HERE .
Step 2: Deposit BEP20 tokens of Binance Smart Chain into the wallet. Users should also prepare some amount of BNB to buy MERL and as a transaction fee.
Step 3: Buy MERL tokens on PancakeSwap via MERL-BNB pool: https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0xDA360309C59CB8C434b28A91b823344a96444278

Instructions for Staking MERL on Merlin: Before going into the Merlin staking guide on Merlin, you need to meet some of the following requirements:
Convert network on MetaMask to Binance Smart Chain (see instructions here). There is a $MERL token in the wallet. Have $BNB tokens in your wallet to pay gas fees
Step 1: Go to merlinlab.com and connect the MetaMask wallet that already has MERL.
Visit merlinlab.com
connect MetaMask . wallet
Step 2: Click on the first 2 items in the image below depending on your desired reward, then select the amount of MERL tokens and approve the transfer.
select the amount of MERL token tokens
select the amount of MERL tokens 2
Step 3: Confirm the transaction on Metamask and you’re done.

Instructions for providing liquidity on Merlin
Before going into the above guide to providing liquidity on Merlin, you need to meet some of the following requirements:
Step 1: In the Pool on Pancakeswap to implement the provision of liquidity
Step 2: Select “Add Liquidity” Add Liquidity
Step 3: Connect the wallet
Step 4: Choose 2 tokens that you want to provide liquidity with provided that these pairs are available on Merlin’s website website
Choose 2 types of tokens
Choose 2 types of tokens 2
Choose 2 types of tokens 3
Step 5: Confirm the amount of 2 tokens: Confirm
Step 6: Select Supply and confirm the transaction on MetaMask

Roadmap

Q2/2021

  • Complete audit with Certik and Haechi
  • Implement Bounty Program for Merlin
  • Complete pre-sale on Bounce
  • Cryptocurrency wallet integration: Trust Wallet, MathWallet, Binance Chain Wallet, WalletConnect
  • Deployment of auto-compound vaults for BTCB, ETH, BNB
  • Mainnet Deployment

Q3/2021

  • Implement deflation mechanisms for MERL tokens, start burning coins
  • Implement lottery function chức
  • Cross-chain support
  • Listing on CEX

Conclusion

Overall, as the title of the article says, this platform is just getting started, but now, https://www.merlinlab.com/ has also done a lot of specific work. The project’s appeal is good to see, and with that, https://www.merlinlab.com/ is looking to a future where I can change everything that I mentioned in the previous section. Through the article we hope that the content I provide will bring you more useful information. And to update the news related to this project, I will provide you with links about this project:

Website: www.merlinlab.com
Telegram Announcement: https://t.me/merlinannouncements
Telegram Community: https://t.me/merlinlab
Telegram Bounty Rewards Group: https://t.me/merlinbounty
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MerlinLab_

Author

ID: SoemOen
BSC Address: 0xc06e5a8dc34114742c4b7c90a98eda643eace24b
See you in the upcoming article !!!

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Oen Soem

I always believed that someday me and she would be back together. I’m miss her so much. ‘’ H ‘’