Curve Founder Urges DeFi Security Standards After KelpDAO Hack

Michael Egorov, founder of Curve Finance, urged the DeFi industry to adopt shared security standards after the recent KelpDAO exploit exposed centralized points of failure in protocol operations. He requested coordinated action from major ecosystem organizations, including the Ethereum and Solana Foundations, to develop common guidelines.

Egorov argued that a string of on-chain exploits shows many projects still rely on single points of control that attackers can target. He recommended distributing critical dependencies where possible and splitting trust across multiple parties when centralization cannot be removed. “All issues like this should be prevented before they happen. We should probably come together and develop safety standards for DeFi,” Egorov said.

He highlighted areas outside core smart contracts where inconsistent practices can create concentrated risk, citing off-chain components, key management, oracle configurations and multisignature arrangements. Egorov proposed a common framework developers, auditors and risk teams can follow to reduce avoidable vulnerabilities in system architecture and external configurations.

Smart contract audits are a standard part of protocol launches, but Egorov and other developers say broader system design practices vary widely. They urge a shift from reactive fixes after incidents to preventative design changes that remove or mitigate single points of failure.

Investors and venture figures offered a different perspective on repeated failures. Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly, said the sector has historically adapted after crises and that failures have driven design and governance changes. “DeFi learns through failures. The important thing is that these failures are not fatal. The heart of DeFi is risk-averse and robust,” Qureshi said.

Qureshi pointed to protocol safeguards such as overcollateralization and reserve buffers that are intended to absorb shocks. He noted those protections and improved design have helped some platforms withstand isolated failures without broader contagion.

Calls for standardization come as more institutional and retail capital enters decentralized markets and expectations about operational risk rise. A shift toward formal standards would require agreement on which practices to prioritize and how to measure compliance across different blockchains and communities. Developers and foundations would need to determine whether centralized governance elements should be minimized, distributed among trustees, or governed by clearer operational playbooks.