r/defi rules, stats, and what to post

This community is for news, articles, and discussions about decentralized financial protocols on any blockchain. That last part matters, because the people here do not care which chain you built on, they care about the protocol itself. Reading the rules, you can tell the room is used to founders and project teams showing up to talk about what they built. The rules even spell out a path for that, as long as you follow it exactly. But the room is also clearly tired of spam, forks, giveaways, and fundraising pitches, because there are rules against every one of those. So this is a place for real protocol discussion, not a launch channel.

The rule that decides everything for a founder is “Self-promo rules”. It says the name of the protocol must be in the title, the risks must be included somewhere in the post, and the post must include a link to a recent audit, because unaudited protocols are not allowed. It also bans Discord, Telegram, and Twitter links and links to websites, and it says using bots to drive engagement will get the post removed. “No forks” matters if your protocol is a copy of another one, because the community welcomes discussion of innovative protocols but does not allow posts about protocols that simply forked another. “No Spam” bans self promotion and promoting specific coins or projects, and says anyone caught spamming will be immediately banned, so the self-promo carve out is a narrow one. “No shilling” caps things by saying no more than ten percent of your posts and comments can promote protocols and projects. “No referral links” and “No giveaways” close two common marketing doors. “No ICO, IDO or fundraising posts” removes fundraising announcements entirely. “No malicious content” is the harshest rule of all, because linking to malware, phishing, or scam sites gets your account banned without warning. “No vote manipulation” bans botted or purchased upvotes, and posters get banned for it.

If you are a founder sharing your own protocol, follow the self-promo checklist to the letter. Put the protocol name right in the title, not buried in the body. Include the risks of your protocol somewhere in the post, honestly and clearly. Link a recent audit, because unaudited protocols are simply not allowed here. Leave out any Discord, Telegram, or Twitter links, and leave out links to your website in a self-promo post. Beyond the checklist, the best post shape here is a genuine discussion starter about a problem your protocol solves, framed as development, news, a project idea, a question, or a support topic, which is what the on-topic rule asks for. If your protocol forked another one, do not post it here at all, because the rule is explicit. And keep your promotional activity rare, since no more than ten percent of your posts and comments can be promotional.

The fastest way to get banned is linking to malware, phishing, or scam sites, because that is a ban without warning. Posting about a fork of another protocol will get your post removed. In a self-promotion post, leaving out the protocol name in the title, leaving out the risks, or skipping the audit link will each sink the post, and unaudited protocols are not allowed at all. Discord, Telegram, and Twitter links, and links to websites, are not allowed in self-promotion posts. Referral links, giveaways, email signups, and third party surveys are all banned. ICO, IDO, and fundraising posts are banned, and so is talking about when an ICO might happen. Buying or botting upvotes gets the post removed and gets you banned. And if more than ten percent of your posts and comments promote protocols or projects, you are over the shilling line. Finally, keep discussions constructive and on topic, because off topic or hostile posts break the rules too.

What strikes me most here is that the audit rule is non negotiable, so a founder without an audit simply has no marketing play in this community yet. I also find it interesting that the rules welcome discussion of innovative protocols while banning forks outright, which tells me originality is the price of entry. If you have a genuinely new mechanism and a fresh audit, this could be one of the most honest rooms to talk about it.