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RFS DeFi Risk Intelligence Weekly
Institutional-Grade DeFi Risk Monitoring brought to you by RFS Consulting
Camryn Odom & Robert Franklin III
July 24, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes
In partnership with
Welcome to another edition of RFS DeFi Risk Intelligence Weekly!
Here’s whats new this week:
🚨 Top Risk Trends This Week
Curve Finance Faces Governance Centralization Concerns Curve’s founder retains majority CRV voting power post-Llama Airforce snapshot vote, prompting DAO decentralization debate. Risk takeaway: delegation optics vs. actual control—a recurring theme in DAO governance risk scoring. | MakerDAO Cuts DAI Savings Rate (DSR) to 5.5% The popular stablecoin protocol adjusted its DSR citing market demand normalization. This reflects declining stablecoin yields across DeFi—treasury optimization strategies should now reprice risk-adjusted returns. |
Solana Surges in Institutional Adoption Metrics Solana crossed 100M cumulative wallets and gained traction with stablecoin growth and token extensions. While latency and throughput remain high, validator centralization and LST concentration are key risk metrics to monitor. | SEC–NYSE Crypto Dialogue Heats Up New push for crypto rule modernization. Discussions between the SEC and NYSE on enabling tokenized securities and regulated on-chain ETFs reflect momentum for regulated DeFi rails. |
📉 RFS Risk Scores Updates - Week of July 21, 2025
Protocol | RFS Score | Change | Key Risk Note |
|---|---|---|---|
Curve | 62 / 100 | 🔻 -3 | Governance centralization exposure |
MakerDAO | 76 / 100 | ➖ | Stable reserve ratios but governance inertia |
Solana | 68 / 100 | 🔺 +2 | Institutional momentum, network stability improving |
Aave | 81 / 100 | ➖ | Strong multisig + audit transparency |
Frax | 70 / 100 | 🔺 +1 | Stable TVL, but exposure to Curve pools flagged |
📌 Methodology: Scores incorporate TVL behavior, exploit risk, smart contract audit depth, liquidity depth, DAO decentralization, and RFS protocol-specific flags.
📚 Education Spotlight
“Why TVL Alone Is Not a Risk Metric”
➡️ Many still equate high Total Value Locked (TVL) with low risk—but this is misleading. Risk-adjusted capital efficiency and Liquidity Density Functions (LDFs) offer a better picture.
➡️ Think of LDFs as a protocol’s ability to sustain liquidity shocks, not just size. We’ll release a full explainer next week.
🧪 Institutional Briefing
Integrating RFS Scores into Portfolio Allocation Models:
We’re piloting real-time dashboard integrations with the Onchain Foundation, enabling dynamic risk-weighted DeFi exposure.
Expect RFS Scores to feed directly into vault management tools, LP dashboards, and compliance risk filters.
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📰 Headlines Worth Reading Into
FTX Estate Sells More Solana at Discount – Market reacts to unlock schedule | Ethereum Staking ETFs: SEC Proposal Tracker – Monitor proposals for institutional staking | Avalanche Evergreen Subnets Expand in APAC – Enterprise DeFi infrastructure growing |
🙇🏾♀️ Camryn’s Corner
Welcome to another segment of ‘Camryn’s Corner’ brought to you by your co-author and editor! Each week I will highlight my top 5 DeFi Applications, Protocols, or other news worthy subjects in the crypto and DeFi world.
Crypto Highlights: The GENIUS Act
The GENIUS Act—formally the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act—was signed into law by President Trump on Friday, July 18, 2025, after passing the Senate (June 17) and House (July 17) with strong bipartisan support.
This landmark legislation imposes a first-ever federal regulatory structure for payment stablecoins, enforcing 1:1 reserve backing in U.S. dollars or safe assets like Treasury bills, monthly public disclosures, independent audits, and anti‑money laundering (AML) controls.
Only “Permitted Payment Stablecoin Issuers” (PPSIs)—either federally chartered banks/fintechs or state-chartered entities—may issue stablecoins under these standards, with larger issuers subjected to federal oversight.
Key consumer protections include giving holders priority repayment in insolvency, prohibiting misleading marketing claims, and mandating the ability to freeze or seize tokens when legally required.
The Act includes an 18-month implementation period, meaning its main provisions will begin taking effect around November 2026, after regulators finalize rules. The crypto market reacted positively, with the global crypto market cap briefly surpassing $4 trillion, as the clarity around stablecoin issuance and infrastructure spurred investor confidence.
By granting banks, fintechs, and even major retailers like Walmart and Amazon clearer paths to launch their own stablecoins, the Act could accelerate widespread adoption in payments, remittances, and corporate treasury operations.
However, critics caution that enforcement gaps—especially around foreign-issued stablecoins (e.g., Tether), potential AML loopholes, and conflicts of interest tied to Trump’s own crypto ventures—could destabilize or politicize the market if not addressed.
Overall, the GENIUS Act is a pivotal milestone that balances legitimacy, innovation, and oversight in the U.S. stablecoin ecosystem.
💡Insights From the Field
“Decentralized doesn’t mean derisked. We quantify what decentralization actually looks like in practice.”
🧭 What’s Next from RFS?
✅ Risk Dashboard v1.0 (Testnet) – Q3
🧩 GBot AI + Risk Model Integration -Q1 2026
📖 eBook: In development-Q3 2026
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📢 Call to Action
Now Accepting 3 Pilot Clients
We’re onboarding a limited number of DeFi protocols and institutional funds into our real-time risk scoring dashboard and DeFi compliance architecture.
💼 Custom engagements | Audit-aligned scoring | Institutional onboarding
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Till next time,
RFS DeFi Risk Intelligence Weekly
🔓Disclaimer: This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell securities or digital assets.