Ethereum Foundation Defines DeFi Criteria and Priorities

The Ethereum Foundation has published a detailed outline of its criteria for supporting Decentralized Finance (DeFi) projects. The foundation emphasizes the importance of permissionless access, open-source code, privacy by design, minimal centralized chokepoints, and no unnecessary trusted third parties.

In addition to these general principles, the foundation requires that DeFi protocols pass the 'walkaway test', which means continuing to function reliably even if the original development team disappears or becomes compromised. This test has previously been applied to Ethereum's own protocol and now extends explicitly to DeFi applications.

The foundation also highlights oracle security as a priority area, recognizing it as a known systemic weakness that requires concerted attention. Oracle vulnerabilities have led to significant losses across protocols since 2020, making it essential for the ecosystem to direct focus at improving oracle infrastructure.