Uniswap, Morpho and others collaborate on Web3SOC, a framework for determining a DeFi project's 'readiness for institutional partnerships'

Some of Ethereum’s biggest application developers and security experts have contributed to Web3SOC, a new security and governance framework designed for compliance, unveiled on Friday. 

Uniswap Labs, Morpho, Maple Finance, Kiln, and Steakhouse Financial collaborated with security firms Cantina and Secureum on establishing a set of standards, with additional insights provided by investors, according to an announcement on Friday. 

In short, Web3SOC is a classification framework designed to enhance security and collaboration in decentralized finance (DeFi) by providing a structured methodology for institutions and organizations to evaluate the “maturity” of a project. 

The standards include a self-assessment tool to gauge readiness for institutional partnerships, as well as a set of “maturity tiers” for projects to determine whether they are prepared to be used by major institutions. 

The move comes amid a moment of revitalization for Ethereum, which has recently been pitching itself as the “settlement layer for the world” based on the idea that nearly all financial activity will eventually move onchain. 

This matured self-perception is bolstered by lobbying groups like Etherealize, which recently published a report claiming that ETH could maintain a long-term price of $740,000 per token, based on the idea that its “digital oil,” as well as a reformed Ethereum Foundation. 

Web3SOC’s maturity tiers range from 1 to 4, i.e., enterprise-grade to “nascent,” based on an organization’s operational, regulatory, security, and financial controls. The idea appears to be a play on the System and Organization Controls standards — like SOC 1 or SOC 2 — used to determine an organization's internal threat and confidentiality controls.

For institutions, Web3SOC also offers a rigorous due diligence tool to evaluate DeFi organizations based on governance, security, financial stability, and regulatory compliance, according to the announcement.