21’s View: Code is legislation, however human oversight is critical.
“I imagine in decentralization, however we now have to acknowledge that people are nonetheless a part of the equation. Sensible contracts don’t exist in a vacuum–builders construct them, and customers work together with them. We have to discover a steadiness between automation and accountability.”
He identified that true decentralization was meant to deliver steadiness again to a system folks not trusted. But when DeFi fully removes human oversight, are we actually attaining steadiness — or simply shifting energy differently?
Glenn’s View: Code just isn’t legislation — authorized frameworks nonetheless apply.
“Ideally, we’d love for DeFi to be ruled purely by sensible contracts, however in actuality, governments don’t acknowledge code because the legislation. When issues go flawed, it’s not the sensible contract that determines legality — it’s the real-world authorized system.”
We pointed to the Mango Markets exploit, the place an attacker manipulated a protocol’s value oracle to empty over $100 million, claiming it was a “worthwhile buying and selling technique.” But, authorized authorities noticed it as market manipulation, and the attacker now faces expenses.
The takeaway?
Whereas code is legislation may be a guideline in DeFi, it doesn’t essentially align with how jurisdictions implement laws.