Audited Does Not Mean Safe: A Practical Guide to Evaluating DeFi Protocol Security Before You Commit Capital
A clean audit report has become one of DeFi's most misunderstood signals — frequently cited as a security guarantee by protocols and interpreted as one by depositors, when the reality is considerably more nuanced. For US investors allocating capital to Ethereum-based DeFi protocols, understanding what audits actually measure, where they fall short, and how to build a more complete risk picture is not just useful — it is necessary.