📰 RFS Risk Intelligence Weekly

DeFi Risk in 2025 — What’s Real, What’s Hype

AuthorAuthor

Camryn Odom & Robert Franklin III
May 31, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

🧠 Executive Note from Robert M. Franklin III - Founder & Managing Partner, RFS Consulting

Welcome to the inaugural issue of RFS Risk Intelligence Weekly, your trusted source for insights at the intersection of DeFi, digital asset regulation, and institutional risk management.

Each week, we’ll break down the real threats, smart strategies, and evolving tools shaping this next phase of decentralized finance — and how RFS Consulting is helping institutions, protocols, and investors stay ahead.

Let’s begin by separating signal from noise in the 2025 DeFi landscape.

🚨 Feature Insight

The ecosystem is evolving fast — but so are the threats. Here’s what we’re tracking at RFS:

1️⃣ Smart Contract Risk Is Going Real-Time

  • Protocols like [Code4rena] and [Sherlock] offer bounties, but 24/7 risk scoring is the future.

2️⃣ Depeg Risk Hedging Is the New Normal

  • Stablecoin fragility is driving innovation in how protocols hedge and defend treasury value.

3️⃣ Liquidity Mismatch Is Quietly Causing Insolvency

  • Real-time liquidity density and TVL depth monitoring is now mission-critical.

4️⃣ Validator Infrastructure Is the Next Compliance Battleground

  • As staking and validator revenue surge, risk-managed Validator-as-a-Service (VaaS) platforms like ours are leading the shift.

5️⃣ AI Is Now a Regulatory and Risk Tool

  • From anomaly detection to exploit prediction, AI is becoming embedded in both compliance and security ops.

🔍Need help building a risk framework around any of these?

🫱🏼‍🫲🏾 Partnership Spotlight

Gemach DAO x RFS Consulting

Gemach DAO is redefining capital efficiency with autonomous AI agents. Our collaboration focuses on integrating smart contract risk scoring, compliance modules, and real-time DeFi analytics into their protocol layer.

Together, we’re engineering next-generation DeFi infrastructure that’s not just innovative — but resilient.

🛠️ Risk Tool of the Week

Fireblocks Policy Engine

A game-changer for centralized entities operating on-chain. Fireblocks allows automated, rules-based transaction approvals to prevent insider threats and hot wallet vulnerabilities.

🔐Need help integrating Fireblocks into a secure ops framework?

⚡️ Quick Insight

DAOs Should Be Monitoring:

Oracle Deviation Alerts

Treasury Liquidity Ratios

Wallet Anomaly Detection

Governance Attack Simulations

📊Want a DAO risk checklist? Reply or message us.

📢 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

👣 Follow RFS Consulting

🌐 Website

🔗 LinkedIn

Till next time,

RFS Risk Intelligence Weekly

🔓Disclaimer: This newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, investment, or tax advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions.