Red Flags & Green Flags

Before aping into any DeFi protocol, learn to spot the warning signs.

🚩 Red Flags

Anonymous Team

While some legit projects have anon teams, it's a risk factor. No accountability if things go wrong.

Unaudited Contracts

No audit = unknown vulnerabilities. Many hacks target unaudited protocols.

Unrealistic APY

Yields of 10,000%+ are mathematically unsustainable. Where does the yield come from?

Copy-Paste Code

Forks of forks with no innovation often have hidden backdoors.

No Timelock

Developers who can make instant changes can rug pull at any moment.

🟢 Green Flags

Doxxed, experienced team

Real identities, verifiable backgrounds, reputation at stake.

Multiple audits

Audits from reputable firms (Trail of Bits, OpenZeppelin, Certik).

Long track record

Protocols with years of uptime (Aave, Compound, Uniswap).

Open source code

Anyone can verify what the code does.

Governance & DAO

Community control, not single-owner power.

Your Checklist

Before depositing:

• ✅ Search "[protocol name] + audit"
• ✅ Check TVL on DefiLlama
• ✅ Read the risks section in docs
• ✅ Start with a small test amount

🔍 DYOR isn't just a meme. It's survival in DeFi.