OpenZeppelin Co-founder: All DeFi is insecure due to escalating asymmetry between attackers and defenders

May 27th News, according to The Block, Manuel Aráoz, co-founder of crypto security firm OpenZeppelin, stated that he now believes "all DeFi" is unsafe and has been advising friends and family to exit all DeFi positions, including low-risk positions in blue-chip protocols like Aave, MakerDAO, and Compound. Aráoz pointed out that the asymmetry between attackers and defenders in security incidents is increasing, with programmatic agents having superhuman abilities to discover vulnerabilities, while defenders need to fix every vulnerability, and attackers only need one exploit to steal funds. In April, DeFi protocols were stolen of nearly $630 million, making it the worst month since the $1.5 billion Bybit hack in February 2025. The Drift and Kelp DAO attacks, resulting in losses of $285 million and $293 million respectively, were both attributed to North Korean hackers. Since mid-April, total DeFi locked value has decreased by about 14%, from approximately $172 billion to $148 billion.