Resource Notes
Use, understand, and apply the model
Key takeaway
DeFi protocol launch requires 35 steps across 6 phases: Pre-Development (use case validation, tokenomics review, legal counsel), Development (check-effects-interactions, 95%+ test coverage, invariant tests, multisig), Security (external audit, 0 Critical/High findings, published report), Pre-Launch (bug bounty, deployment scripts tested, emergency plan), Launch (deploy via multisig, verify contracts, seed liquidity, lock LP tokens), and Post-Launch (weekly metrics review, quarterly security review, annual audit for upgrades).
PHASE 1: PRE-DEVELOPMENT (Weeks 1–4)
Business:
- Use case validated (comparable protocols exist at $50M+ TVL)
- Tokenomics model reviewed by independent economist
- Death spiral analysis at -70% token price
- Legal counsel review (jurisdiction, token classification)
- DAO structure defined (multisig now, governance later)
Technical:
- Architecture Document approved by technical team
- Oracle design specified (Chainlink + TWAP, divergence threshold)
- Upgrade pattern chosen (UUPS / Transparent / Diamond)
- Chain selection finalized (with gas cost model)
PHASE 2: DEVELOPMENT (Weeks 4–20)
- Smart contracts follow check-effects-interactions throughout
- nonReentrant on all external state-changing functions
- Custom errors instead of require strings
- Unit test coverage: 95%+ lines, 88%+ branches
- Fuzz tests on all critical math functions
- Invariant tests implemented and passing
- Multisig (3-of-5 minimum) configured and tested
- Emergency pause tested (works as expected)
PHASE 3: SECURITY (Weeks 16–24)
- Internal security review complete (run Slither, Aderyn, Mythril)
- External audit firm engaged and audit dates confirmed
- All Critical findings: 0 unresolved
- All High findings: 0 unresolved
- Remediation review by audit firm: complete
- Audit report published publicly
PHASE 5: LAUNCH (Week 26+)
- Deploy contracts to mainnet via multisig
- Verify all contracts on Etherscan
- Seed initial liquidity
- Lock LP tokens (minimum 6 months)
- Distribute tokens per allocation (team, investors via vesting contracts)
- Publish all contract addresses and Etherscan links
- Turn on monitoring (Forta alerts, Tenderly alerts)
- Post-launch: 24-hour monitoring period with team on standby