​​Is DYOR Dead? Building a Safer Web3 with Alex Katz
The Defiant14 Marras 2025

​​Is DYOR Dead? Building a Safer Web3 with Alex Katz

In a world of fast-advancing technology, we are told to trust in our own research. But as the crypto space matures, scams and exploits remain a constant presence. When your assets are gone, they are gone forever, with a near-zero chance of recovery. The old mantra of "Do Your Own Research" falls short against sophisticated threats like address poisoning, advanced malware, and convincing AI deepfakes. How, then, do we build a safer Web3 without sacrificing the decentralized ideals at its core?

Alex Katz, CEO of the Web3 security solution Kerberus, joins us to explore this new frontier. We delve into the philosophical debate of autonomy versus protection, the push for auditing standards, and the future of wallet-native security.


Chapters

00:00 Android vulnerability: why mobile crypto is risky

01:21 Building safer Web3 without sacrificing decentralization

02:10 Crypto’s Wild West: few rules, big risks

03:37 Why scams continue: prosecution, standards, protection gaps

05:44 Kerberus approach and results: zero user losses

06:24 Coverage up to $30K and growth needs

08:24 Why DYOR is insufficient for modern threats

09:33 Traders’ behavior, phishing risk, and automation

11:25 Crypto antivirus vision and malware threats

12:11 Hardware vs. hot wallets: balancing safety and speed

14:41 Address poisoning, clipboard privacy, and deepfakes

20:22 Autonomy vs. protection: beyond user education

24:44 Wallet security should be default, like antivirus

31:51 Getting grandma into Web3 safely

32:29 Lightning round: tools, myths, key lessons

36:04 Where to find Kerberus and closing notes

Jaksot(326)

"It Was Exciting But it Was Also Terrifying:" Dan Elitzer and Clinton Bembry on Yam Finance's Backstory

"It Was Exciting But it Was Also Terrifying:" Dan Elitzer and Clinton Bembry on Yam Finance's Backstory

In this week’s episode, I spoke with Dan Elitzer and Clinton Bembry, who were part of the founding team of Yam. Yam Finance is an experiment in rebasing cryptocurrencies, plus token incentives, plus f...

26 Syys 20201h 2min

"After DeFi, it’s NFTs and DAOs. We're Gathering Tinder:" Jihoz of Axie Infinity

"After DeFi, it’s NFTs and DAOs. We're Gathering Tinder:" Jihoz of Axie Infinity

This week’s interview is with Jeff Zirlin, aka Jihoz, growth lead at Axie Infinity. Axie is a digital game built on Ethereum, which involves cute animals going to battle against each other and taking ...

19 Syys 202059min

"It Turns Out Music Does Have Value. We've Been Pricing It Incorrectly For 20 Years:" RAC

"It Turns Out Music Does Have Value. We've Been Pricing It Incorrectly For 20 Years:" RAC

Hello Defiers! In this week’s interview, we chatted with Grammy Award-winning DJ Andre Anjos, aka RAC. Many have seen cryptocurrencies as a way to decentralize the financial system, thanks to the inno...

12 Syys 20201h 10min

"What We're Building is Very Big and We Should Have The Least Concentration Possible:" Aave's Stani Kulechov

"What We're Building is Very Big and We Should Have The Least Concentration Possible:" Aave's Stani Kulechov

Stani Kulechov the founder and CEO of Aave. When we spoke Aave was the second-largest DeFi protocol, but in the days after our conversation, it rose to overtake MakerDAO and become the DeFi platform w...

29 Elo 202059min

"It's not just about money; it's touching a very primal desire to connect with others:" ParaFi's Santiago Roel

"It's not just about money; it's touching a very primal desire to connect with others:" ParaFi's Santiago Roel

Santiago Roel is partner at ParaFi Capital, one of the most active investment funds in DeFi. Before going full crypto, Santiago worked at JPMorgan’s investment banking arm, and then invested in fintec...

25 Elo 20201h 2min

"People Want me to be Popular, Not Necessarily Successful; That's the Trick with Personal Tokens:" Alex Masmej

"People Want me to be Popular, Not Necessarily Successful; That's the Trick with Personal Tokens:" Alex Masmej

In this week’s episode I speak with Alex Masmej, the first person to raise money by selling tokens not linked to any project, but linked to himself, in a sort of self-IPO. Much like shareholders takin...

15 Elo 202056min

"In DeFi My Money is Actually Mine. It's a Beautiful Concept But it Comes With Responsibilities:" Andre Cronje

"In DeFi My Money is Actually Mine. It's a Beautiful Concept But it Comes With Responsibilities:" Andre Cronje

Andre Cronje is the developer of the yearn platform and YFI token. There’s this sort of mysticism around Andre: The solo genius builder who relentlessly releases code even if it hasn’t always been pro...

8 Elo 20201h 15min

"We're at the Early Stages of a Truly Novel Structure That can Organize Humans and Money:" Olaf Carlson-Wee

"We're at the Early Stages of a Truly Novel Structure That can Organize Humans and Money:" Olaf Carlson-Wee

In today’s episode, I speak with Polychain Capital founder Olaf Carlson-Wee. He was already telling Wired magazine about programmatic finance back in 2016, so it’s no surprise Olaf is very excited abo...

1 Elo 202053min