2020

Both sides of composability

Protocols can call each other without permission; that same property let an attacker chain several protocols together inside a single transaction.

Watch it happen in “Money Lego” →

Why it happened

  1. 01接口标准化后,任何协议都能接上任何协议,组合数从 n 变成 n × m。
  2. 02无需许可意味着无从审核 —— 调用方是谁、意图是什么,被调用方无法判断。
  3. 03闪电贷让「先借出、操作、再还清」在一笔原子交易内完成。

Before · After

Before

Financial products were isolated from each other; connecting them took business negotiation and compliance review.

After

Anyone can assemble them — including people who do not intend to use them well.

Why it matters

The benefit and the risk are not two things but two faces of one property. Every layer of composition since has to ask what it is resting on.

Related entities

Sources