▼DeFi Reinstalls Central Controls After Governance Attacks

Score history

Daily conviction score, 0 to 100. Higher means the thesis is more strongly corroborated.

Now 35 · -2 since Sep 13 · ranged 35 to 37

Showing the last few days. Unlock full score history.

Why the conviction moved

• Sep 7
  Strengthened +5

  Term Labs lost $8.5 million to an attacker who acquired control of its governance for roughly $951, one of the cheapest governance captures on record. A four-figure cost to seize a protocol is the strongest possible argument for the revocable guardian roles and upgrade keys the thesis says protocols keep re-adding.

• Sep 7
  Strengthened +4

  Aave's vote installs asymmetric emergency controls — stewards can freeze markets but restart requires full governance — assigned in advance of a release that supports them. The one-way design is an explicit attempt to make central control accountable rather than absolute, which is the direction the thesis predicts protocols converge on after governance attacks.

• Sep 6
  Strengthened +7

  Term Labs lost $8.5 million after an attacker bought enough voting power to control four lending vaults and about 91% of an ether meta vault, then passed proposals instructing them to release funds, and Compound is now debating emergency powers in response. A live capture immediately followed by a major lending protocol debating guardian-style intervention is the exact sequence the thesis predicts.

Source trail

• Supporting · September 7, 2026

  Aave Votes to Give Risk Stewards Powers That Can Freeze Markets but Not Restart Them

  Aave's vote installs asymmetric emergency controls — stewards can freeze markets but restart requires full governance — assigned in advance of a release that supports them. The one-way design is an explicit attempt to make central control accountable rather than absolute, which is the direction the thesis predicts protocols converge on after governance attacks.

  CryptoSlate

• Supporting · September 7, 2026

  One Cosmos Underflow Bug Drained Three Chains as DeFi Losses Near $1.3 Billion for the Year

  Term Labs lost $8.5 million to an attacker who acquired control of its governance for roughly $951, one of the cheapest governance captures on record. A four-figure cost to seize a protocol is the strongest possible argument for the revocable guardian roles and upgrade keys the thesis says protocols keep re-adding.

  Rekt News