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OpenZeppelin, a smart contract security firm whose libraries underpin most DeFi protocols, pushed back Tuesday against a viral post by its co-founder and former CTO declaring all of DeFi fundamentally unsafe, clarifying that the claims do not represent the company's position.
Manuel Aráoz, who co-founded OpenZeppelin and served as its chief technology officer until leaving in 2019, wrote on X on Monday that he now considers "all of DeFi unsafe." Aráoz argued that AI coding agents have become "superhuman at finding vulnerabilities," and that smart contract security is too asymmetric: defenders must patch every bug, while attackers need only one exploit to drain funds.
Aráoz said he has been privately advising friends and family to exit all DeFi positions, including so-called blue chips such as Aave, MakerDAO, and Compound.
The post drew wide attention, racking up more than 600,000 views on X, and prompted customers to contact OpenZeppelin directly to ask whether it reflected the company's stance.
