[IMPORTANT] a16z Crypto Urges DeFi to Embrace ‘Spec is Law’ Security Model to Prevent $649M Exploits

a16z Crypto advocates for DeFi protocols to shift from ‘code is law’ to ‘spec is law’ by implementing standardised specification checks to prevent hacks. Last year, DeFi suffered over $649 million in exploits, exposing security vulnerabilities even in established protocols like Balancer. While invariant checks improve security, they may raise transaction costs and are not foolproof, but several projects like Kamino and XRP Ledger have started adopting them.