DeFi Punk by Hsiao Wei Wang || Ethereum Privacy Stack, Devconnect 2025

[applause] Hello is for defy punk. Defy punk is a spirit that we apply the cypher punk values into defy. the device that champions privacy, the device that champions permission list and open source collaborations and uses sovereignity. We believe that this is the path that Syrian should take for going forward. [clears throat] So uh in in June uh Eternal Foundation published our treasury policy.

This is a document that uh defines how external foundation would allocate our treasury uh under such policy and um including like the guidance for the micro policy and the rebalancing aka sale east and then it uh we want to use this document to clearly align our financial strategy within core values as well. the EF uh would like to manage its uh uh sustainable treasury and then we also want to support with the EF treasury to support long-term health and instead of uh just chasing y or playing a safe tra in a playing safe uh in a traditional way we decide that our investment should also reflect what is flex So for EF treasuries considerations uh first security safety is the most important uh topic and then we we wanted to use the more like a battle tested and um immutable and permissionless solutions um like defy projects and um encourage we want to encourage a positive sound actors in the etheran defy system and then um also like we wanted to be financially uh responsible and while this during this process still like we've not we're not tracing for the highest y we're traing we are tracing for the um reasonable return that we were able to be a sustainable and then during this process we also ask ourself like um what EF's roles is what we ask ourselves like this the use of fun advance is core values at the same time and that's why we also uh defines um deeper growth as part of the treasury policy we want to support a maximally secure decentralized open source and cyber punkifications the ideal defy protocols that um uh are trust minimized, composable, and fi privacy friendly and they want to invest in eerence uh values, long-term values and not just financial upside. However, uh compared to today's D5 protocols, the the today's DeFi ecosystem, the use of privacy tools, uh the cost is high. If you want to uh enter the the pure true cyber punk um device and then there are so many shortcuts in the when you decide the protocol uh that could lead to decent uh lead to centralizations. Yeah.

And then as a result uh we could see uh many project many projects in today uh took the shutouts and then we have seen so many centralized elements in the pro in the projects that they client they are defy but uh if you zoom in clearly and you can see something like uh that could have been better and then for the treasury management part uh we wanted our strategy is we wanted to um create a loop here starting with just internal operation and then how we use this to advocate the core values that EF supports which including the centralized resistant opensource privacy and security and then uh use these allocations uh to deploy use this core values as considerations to deploy the strategies to support the initiatives and this group will be like a a circles uh during the uh treasury allocation season and I have to admit that uh since June to today the process the progress was uh should be faster should be pro uh improved and then to here like I think it was because uh one one of the bigger reason is like uh it is was difficult to found many many projects that fits all the criteria that we define and then we will encourage like community to help us more on this search. So uh when practice the core values we started with core values and then we define the define punk properties and then the define punk criteras are based on these properties for treasury. Yeah. So uh these are the defy punk properties. So first security is the most important one.

We wanted to prioritize the most robust most uh battle tested uh system and we found compromise on uh safety and second is open source. Open source here we wanted to be more uh strict in the definition of open source. We wanted to support more on the free and labor open source code uh the FL license um projects and it is for transparency also it was for uh encouraging the community to innovate to have a more um innovative solutions collaboration together and we will talk about this more later and then third is like I wanted to support the financial uh self severity projects that that which ones um these projects that they are empower user to hold their own keys directly to the their assets without like third party control over their assets and then four number four is the um the take solutions uh over the trustbased solutions for example like we f in the the code the the project that is designed with the um cryptography uh solutions instead of asking people to trust the third party to verify it. And uh number five is uh we want to support active um development of the cyber uh cryptography tools and then protect the self uh liberty. Yeah, you it's uh similar to number four, but uh this is more about like the the the crypto certain crypto tools that we wanted to support.

And then the number six is privacy. Um I think in our we we talk about privacy a lot today. I think uh we will talk more and privacy is important. primacy should be the first class value for zero and yeah so um we know privacy is overturn overlook in defi so uh EF wanted to stepping up to encourage it more we want to advocate the like the the good for business in the long run and then the most and often um the most centralized piece of decentralized protocols are uh the problem are in on their front end website and for example like you could see uh when you use a defa project and you use their uh s the the UI website page that the the protocol itself uh provided but what if there are uh distributed multiple UI options for you what if uh you can self-hosted this UI by yourself. Yeah.

I also wanted to encourage like the independent UIs and the COIs tools that for the power users that they could maybe bypass the graphic UI the GUIs they could see the the what the content inside very directly then be able to verify it themsself and then uh it's also connected to to some decides when you think about like how define from from the users uh from the users hand to the D5 protocol on chain there are so many steps between this process and they want to ensure like all the process all the step between this are cyber punk and then the SS um isn't just controlled to by the single one website yeah and um I think if the EFO will not uh do this alone Um we want to see many builders here like I think we will see many builders here in this room and then the builders auditors users and to work together on these values and um um our role is to amplify the and also to to back stop that work. uh for example I think um I think uh we will also combine it to some security initiatives that work on the EF for example this one trillion security uh project that EF supported I think uh there are so many collaborations working down within the EF and with the community and now we talk about the the defy punk criteria yeah we share the framework in this uh policy document like openly dis um to provide the the legibility like for DF to make decisions and then we wanted to also use this document to um amplify like what are the criterias like for every defi users they should look into. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

So uh I listed some prop some criterias here. The first three ones are I mean it's in in bold. So it's maybe in our in our consideration we prioritize them more but uh all of them uh you should think about this and I think but we know like um it's so difficult for one single protocol to check all these bugs um but even if they just meet uh most of them I it is also good to and then some it is something we also encourage. Yeah. So we'll talk about L one by one.

The first one is the um permission this assess. I think this is the fun very fundamental and there's no there should be no gatekeeper um whether you are a developer in Bruno Iris or like um everyone you everyday user in Vietnam or like enthusiast in Nigeria like uh the door should be open the protocol should be open to everyone and the ser is for everyone and then so defunk must be open to everyone as well and then second is like uh can are user able to maintain uh the custody of their own asset. In other words like uh does this protocol um empower users to uh hold their keys and control the assets their own? This is should be a default operation default mode of the operation. Um then uh yeah the the license part and we understand that uh there are so many yeah some projects they they chose the um business source license or like delayed open source um like transition time to protect their IP.

Yeah, we understand the reasons and however like we truly believe like um if we can choose the more open the like copy left license it will encourage a better world in the verance collaboration and innovations. Yeah, it is not easy but uh I I think hope that the new builders and the defi could consider like what is the best way to um make sure like the protocol is sustainable in collaboration and then uh the next one is privacy. Yeah, privacy is often treated as a luxury uh or like a afterthought in DeFi. Um but also like it is the first class uh value we want to appreciate it in the privacy u manifesto it said like for privacy to be widespread it must be part of the social contract and we believe like uh in the we think today we have so many great presentations and also in the afternoon and um if everyone like believed it then that will the it will also impact the market will also impact the the trifi usage in when when the trifi applied to the device that will be the things like should be default. Yeah.

And next one is the um opensource development processes. Um so I think for for most projects um after the launch that of course the the smart contract code should be open should be uh on GitHub and then and we also looking to when you you are choosing the defa projects uh I would say even if you are not a developer yourself uh it would be great if you can choose their repository they see if the uh How the merger, how the PR got merged, how the governance process are decided during the process and then are the parameters uh being updated um with open transparent process and then also like do you do does the average users all do the average users all have access to see the disaster SP making process of these parameters and also like the project's future road maps and also like the the governance process that's also important after the project launch. Yeah. And also want to cage the maximally trustless core logic. Um for example like uh there many uh defy protocol in the within this context are like immutable.

So like you if um without changing the the the smart contract code itself is immutable or um if the part the the project is upgradable but with a very decentralized and like time lock secure setup and then it should avoid like a one single main keys that can upgrade the uh protocol parameters without uh like a long like uh maybe five days, seven days of the time lock. Yeah. And also like if the design could encourage the um it is if the during the design process delay encourage um economic incentives design or like cryptoeconomics design instead of like using legal wrapper and then uh general security like including like audits uh formal verifications you have if you want to use one protocol you should look that it's a audit or reports and you should see if uh people uh if to see at least like if the code you are using could be seen on say like it's a scam the source code should be clear and also like when the if the protocol was attacked how does the team uh react on this how do they what's their responsive time how they handle the situation and all these will be uh like a raker for for the that supported D5 and then like distributed UI like can u many times like the central the censorship resistance is in the user layer. So uh we try to remember like uh all these criterias that uh I think in in your future use of defi uh if you can remember some of these criterias in your search uh I think will encou will help you to be more like a defi punk users in this ecosystem and so this is the last page uh destiny is to be um is to be stronghold of cypher punk values in def finance and and I thinkeran is for defy punk is not just a slogan um it is a commitment like we can do it together and um it is defy is for the people who the users who in a politically or financially upset oppressed regions who need uncensor reservable uh finance and then I think today I would like to um encourage people to look into the defy projects with the cyber punk values and um with when you think about these questions will all contribute to make Ethereum better. Yeah.

Thank you. [applause]