a16z Crypto's recent statements have attracted industry attention, directly pointing out that DeFi protocols need a paradigm shift — no longer relying solely on the philosophy of "code is law," but moving towards a system where "standards are law."

There are real pain points behind this warning. Last year, the entire DeFi market suffered hack-related losses totaling $649 million (according to NS3 report data), involving major projects like Balancer. Numbers speak volumes: every million-dollar bug repeatedly confirms a truth — code audits alone are far from enough.

a16z Crypto recommends that all DeFi projects adopt standardized compliance check mechanisms, including invariant checks and runtime enforcement techniques. In simple terms, adding more self-protection logic at the code execution level to enable protocols to automatically identify and prevent abnormal behaviors.

This is not an empty suggestion. From a technical perspective, standard compliance checks are akin to installing "traffic lights" on smart contracts, capable of detecting issues before hackers exploit vulnerabilities. For development teams, this means reallocating security investments; for users, it provides an additional layer of protection.