DeFi Audit Firms Swamped by 'Overwhelming Demand'

Oct 15, 2020 at 20:02 UTC.If you're an Ethereum project looking to get audits done before the close of 2020, it's probably too late in the game.

Audit firms CoinDesk spoke with said they are swamped with decentralized finance projects.

Audit firm OpenZeppelin, which has overseen audits on DeFi staples such as Compound and Augur, said it is "Seeing an overwhelming demand for audits" and is booking clients "Well out into Q1 2021.".

Juliano Martinez, technical writer at audit firm Quantstamp, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message that the "High volume" of applicants has led to his company "Rejecting lots of projects."

The separation between audited projects and non-audited projects became palpable over DeFi's boom months - often referred to as "DeFi Summer" - as code flaws in some projects led to contracts being exploited by hackers.

A three-month 'lead time' for DeFi audits.

Guido said Q4 has always been a busy quarter for DeFi audit firms as "Institutional clients try to spend their remaining cash before the end of the year."

Trail of Bits also conducted audits on three Ethereum 2.0 clients including Nimbys, Prysm and Lighthouse ahead of that project's presumed late-autumn launch.

A lack of new projects rolling out is not the reason why DeFi is entering a bear market, however.

Independent analyst and former quantitative trader at Tower Research Qiao Wang told CoinDesk in a private message the "Market is exhausted because it was overheated" from overplayed retail buyers and that the sharp fall in DeFi token prices is "Pretty independent from new high-quality projects, of which there are many."