Andre Cronje: Nowadays, many DeFi protocols are no longer true DeFi in the real sense, and the industry is debating whether a circuit breaker mechanism should be introduced

By: rootdata|2026/04/29 21:42:02

Andre Cronje stated in an interview with Cointelegraph that many DeFi protocols today are "no longer truly DeFi" and are more like "profit-driven companies operated by teams," as they generally rely on upgradable contracts, multi-signatures, off-chain infrastructure, and manual operational control.

Cronje pointed out that the current industry is still overly focused on smart contract audits while neglecting operational risks that are closer to traditional finance (TradFi). He believes that recent attack incidents are not due to code vulnerabilities but stem from off-chain infrastructure, permission management, and social engineering attacks.

The discussion arises from the recent frequent security incidents in DeFi. In April, protocols such as Flying Tulip, Drift Protocol, and Kelp encountered security events, with Drift and Kelp suffering losses of approximately $280 million and $293 million, respectively.

In response, Flying Tulip has introduced a "Withdrawal Circuit Breaker," which can delay or queue withdrawal requests when unusually large withdrawals occur, allowing the team about 6 hours to respond. Cronje emphasized that this mechanism does not permanently freeze withdrawals but serves as a layer of protection within the security system.

However, Michael Egorov holds a cautious attitude towards this. He stated that the circuit breaker itself could also become a new point of centralized risk. If control permissions fall into the hands of an attacker, the mechanism originally intended to protect the protocol could instead be used to freeze assets or directly transfer funds.

Egorov believes that the long-term direction of DeFi should be to minimize human intervention and centralized permissions as much as possible, rather than adding more layers of manual control. "The security of DeFi comes from decentralization, not more human management."

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