OpenZeppelin founder Manuel Aráoz warns that all of DeFi is unsafe, privately advising friends and family to exit DeFi positions.
Security & Exploits ·
Manuel Aráoz, co-founder of OpenZeppelin, stated that he now believes "all of DeFi is unsafe" due to AI coding agents achieving superhuman capability in vulnerability discovery combined with the asymmetric nature of smart contract security. He said he has personally advised friends and family to exit all DeFi positions. OpenZeppelin audits major protocols including Aave, Compound, MakerDAO, Uniswap, and Coinbase.
Aráoz's position reflects a concern about the structural mismatch in DeFi security: as AI systems improve at identifying exploitable flaws faster than human defenders can patch them, the risk calculus for holding positions shifts. His personal recommendation to close DeFi exposure carries particular weight given OpenZeppelin's standing as a leading security firm in the sector.
The statement remains a single individual's assessment rather than an official OpenZeppelin position, and does not specify a timeline for when such risks might crystallize or whether any particular protocols face imminent threat. The broader implications for DeFi user behavior and capital allocation depend partly on how widely such concerns spread among other security researchers and institutional participants.