In the DeFi ecosystem, smart contracts play a key role—this is how all actions take place: deposits, swaps, staking, DAO governance, and much more. However, not every smart contract is safe. Interacting with an unverified contract can lead to a total loss of funds. Below are basic steps that can help minimize risks.
1. Contract address verification
The first and most important step is to ensure that you are interacting with the official contract of the project. Obtain the address only from verified sources: the official website, the project's account on X (Twitter), Discord, or GitHub. Never copy addresses from random comments and anonymous chats.
2. Check on a blockchain explorer
Use explorers such as Etherscan, BSCScan, Arbiscan, and others. On the contract page, it is important to ensure that the code is verified. This means that the source code is published and matches the bytecode uploaded to the blockchain. It is also worth studying the 'Transactions' tab to understand how many people interact with the contract.
3. Presence of an audit
Reliable projects publish the results of smart contract audits. Look for reports from well-known auditing firms: Certik, PeckShield, Trail of Bits, Quantstamp, and others. However, it is important to remember that even a project that has passed an audit does not provide a hundred percent guarantee of safety.
4. User activity and liquidity
Pay attention to the number of transactions, volumes, and the number of unique addresses. A contract that is actively interacted with by thousands of users is more trustworthy than one with only a few transactions.
5. Code analysis (if you have experience)
If you can read smart contracts, examine the source code for functions that may raise suspicion: the ability for the owner to withdraw funds, changing parameters without voting, and others.
6. Project reputation and community reviews
See what people are saying about the project on forums, in Telegram or Discord communities, on X and Reddit. If users have already complained about losing funds, that's a red flag.
Checking a smart contract is an important skill for a crypto user. Even if you are not a security expert, following basic principles can help avoid most scams.
