Protocol Assessment
SnowMind evaluates every protocol using a transparent 10-point risk scoring framework. Scores help users assess risk at a glance and inform the AI assistant's explanations.
Scores Are Informational
Hard Filters
Every protocol must pass all of the following to be listed on SnowMind. These are non-negotiable.
| Filter | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Audit | At least 1 completed security audit |
| Exploit history | No exploits in the past 12 months |
| Source code | Verified and published on a block explorer (e.g. Snowtrace) |
If a protocol fails any hard filter, it is excluded entirely — no score is given and it does not appear on the protocol selection page.
Scoring Categories (10 points max)
1. Protocol Safety (max 2 points)
How secure and trustworthy is the protocol itself?
| Check | Points | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Audited | 1 | At least 1 completed audit from a recognized firm |
| No exploit history ever | 1 | Never exploited across any deployment or version |
Exploit history considers all versions. If v1 was exploited but v2 is a full rewrite, the point is still lost — the team's track record matters.
Governance structure (DAO multisig vs EOA) is not scored separately but should be noted when explaining a protocol's risk profile.
2. Liquidity (max 3 points)
How much capital is in the protocol and how reliable is access to it? Checked every 24 hours.
| Check | Points | Details |
|---|---|---|
| TVL > $10M | 3 | Large, established pool with deep liquidity |
| TVL > $1M | 2 | Moderate liquidity, sufficient for most deposit sizes |
| TVL > $500K | 1 | Smaller pool, limited capacity |
| TVL < $500K | 0 | Very small, deposits may significantly impact rates |
TVL is measured as the total USDC deposited in the specific market/vault SnowMind interacts with, not the protocol's overall TVL across all assets and chains.
3. Collateral Quality (max 2 points)
What assets are borrowers posting as collateral against the USDC that SnowMind lends?
| Check | Points | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Blue chip only or N/A | 2 | Collateral is BTC, ETH, USDC, or other major assets |
| Mixed or yield-bearing stablecoins | 1 | Includes yield-bearing assets like sUSDe, savUSD with additional depeg risk |
| Exotic or synthetic only | 0 | Entirely newer, less proven synthetic or algorithmic assets |
4. Yield Profile (max 2 points)
How sustainable and predictable is the yield? Checked every 24 hours.
| Check | Points | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Organic and stable | 2 | Yield from real borrower interest or protocol-set rates with low variance |
| Organic but volatile | 1 | Real lending activity but fluctuates significantly |
| Mostly incentive-driven | 0 | Primarily from token incentives that can end at any time |
5. Architecture (max 1 point)
How directly does SnowMind interact with the yield source?
| Check | Points | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Direct deposit | 1 | USDC deposited directly into the lending pool or savings contract |
| Through curator or wrapper | 0 | Additional layer (vault curator, meta-vault, savings wrapper) |