Open Access

REVIEW

A Review on the Security of the Ethereum-Based DeFi Ecosystem

by Yue Xue¹, Dunqiu Fan², Shen Su^1,3,*, Jialu Fu¹, Ning Hu¹, Wenmao Liu², Zhihong Tian^1,*

1 Cyberspace Institute of Advanced Technology, Guangzhou University, Guanzhou, 510000, China
2 Innovation Center, NSFOCUS Inc., Beijing, 100089, China
3 Engineering Research Center of Integration and Application of Digital Learning Technology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, 100816, China

* Corresponding Authors: Shen Su. Email: ; Zhihong Tian. Email:

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2024, 139(1), 69-101. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmes.2023.031488

Received 20 June 2023; Accepted 07 September 2023; Issue published 30 December 2023

Abstract

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is a general term for a series of financial products and services. It is based on blockchain technology and has attracted people’s attention because of its open, transparent, and intermediary free. Among them, the DeFi ecosystem based on Ethereum-based blockchains attracts the most attention. However, the current decentralized financial system built on the Ethereum architecture has been exposed to many smart contract vulnerabilities during the last few years. Herein, we believe it is time to improve the understanding of the prevailing Ethereum-based DeFi ecosystem security issues. To that end, we investigate the Ethereum-based DeFi security issues: 1) inherited from the real-world financial system, which can be solved by macro-control; 2) induced by the problems of blockchain architecture, which require a better blockchain platform; 3) caused by DeFi invented applications, which should be focused on during the project development. Based on that, we further discuss the current solutions and potential directions of DeFi security. According to our research, we could provide a comprehensive vision to the research community for the improvement of Ethereum-based DeFi ecosystem security.

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Keywords

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