Buterin Outlines Ethereum Foundation's DeFi Criteria, Flags Oracle Risk and 'Gambleslop'

Ethereum co‑founder Vitalik Buterin published a detailed post setting out the Ethereum Foundation's criteria for supporting DeFi, saying the foundation will back projects that are permissionless, privacy‑preserving, open‑source and built to survive the loss or compromise of their original teams — a standard he frames as a "walkaway" test ^[1][2][5].

Buterin explicitly criticized what he called "gambleslop" protocols that rely on fragile assumptions or centralization, and he named oracle security as an unresolved systemic risk for on‑chain finance, calling for designs that minimise trusted third parties and reduce single points of failure ^[1][3].

The post and subsequent coverage frame DeFi as a core part of Ethereum's value proposition but make clear the Ethereum Foundation will differentiate between protocols it will actively support and those it will not, prioritising permissionless and security‑first projects in its backing decisions ^[2][5].

Buterin and the Foundation reiterated a commitment to permissionless DeFi while warning that unresolved infrastructure risks — notably oracle security — must be addressed for projects to qualify for EF support ^[1][2].