DeFiPunk'd

Rocket Pool

Liquid Staking

TVL $906.8M
Type Liquid Staking
Chain Ethereum
View on DeFiLlama ↗
Control criteria
Upgradeability Unknown Bug bounty immunefi.com Governance forum dao.rocketpool.net Docs docs.rocketpool.net
About

Rocket Pool is a decentralised Ethereum liquid staking protocol: users deposit ETH to mint the rETH liquid staking receipt, while node operators run minipools backed by RPL collateral. Contract logic is upgraded via a registry-pointer pattern (RocketStorage holds every contract's address), with code upgrades authorized by a 10-member Oracle DAO of trusted nodes and protocol parameters/treasury governed by a separate RPL tokenholder Protocol DAO.

Risk analysis

One card per dimension, sorted by severity. Only Verifiability and Autonomy carry automated signals in Phase 0. See methodology for scope.

Audit a dimension yourself · DEFI@home Contribute an LLM-run assessment — any model, any dimension. Three agreeing runs merge automatically into the public record.

DEFI@home is a distributed audit network modeled on SETI@home: instead of CPU cycles, it crowdsources LLM reasoning. Paste a slice prompt into Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or any browsing-capable model, and submit the JSON output as a pull request. The quorum bot merges it once ≥3 independent runs (from different models) reach the same grade — no single model, and no single contributor, can move the needle alone. How it works →

  • Address discovery 12 addresses on file · 1 run Submit run ↗
  • Verifiability ✓ 5/5 models agree AI-only weak green — weak consensus margin Submit run ↗
  • Control ✓ 6/6 models agree AI-only 5/6 with chat share link Submit run ↗
  • Ability to exit ✓ 3/3 models agree AI-only weak green — weak consensus margin Submit run ↗
  • Autonomy Unverified Submit run ↗
  • Open Access ✓ 3/3 models agree AI-only 3/3 with chat share link Submit run ↗
  • Audit all 5 dimensions · one prompt Submit run ↗
  1. Verifiability tentative 5/5 models agree AI-only 3/5 with chat share link
    All core contracts verified on Etherscan; public source repo with named authors; multiple recognized-firm audits and active Immunefi bounty
    Verdict

    Choosing green because every core deployed contract examined on-chain this run is verified on Etherscan (RocketStorage, rETH, RocketDAOProtocol, legacy RPL), the public github.com/rocket-pool/rocketpool repository contains source matching the verified Etherscan source, and the most recent in-scope work (Saturn 1, live February 2026) was reviewed by at least two recognized firms (Sigma Prime and Spearbit/Cantina) prior to mainnet deployment, with an active Immunefi bounty in place. The remaining caveats — no bytecode-diff run by this analyst, Bailsec not yet on the recognized-firm list — belong in unknowns, not the grade.

    Steelman argument
    Steelman argument Three of the Saturn 1 reviewers (Sigma Prime, Spearbit/Cantina, Trail-of-Bits-lineage publications) are unambiguously on the recognized-firm list; all core deployed contracts examined this run are verified on Etherscan; the public repo is canonical and named, and an active Immunefi bounty incentivizes ongoing review.
    Evidence (6)
    V1
    RocketStorage (0x1d8f8f00…), rETH RocketTokenRETH (0xae78736C…), legacy RPL RocketPoolToken (0xB4EFd85c…), and RocketDAOProtocol (0x0429Cdd8…) all returned ABI source = etherscan via the defipunkd /api/contract/abi crawler — i.e. verified bytecode + source on the explorer. Architecture is not proxy-based (RocketStorage registry pattern), so there is no implementation-vs-proxy verification split to worry about.
    V2
    All four contracts above match the public source in github.com/rocket-pool/rocketpool (the same NatSpec author-block 'David Rugendyke, Jake Pospischil, Kane Wallmann, Darren Langley, Joe Clapis, Nick Doherty' appears in both the Etherscan-verified File 1 and the GitHub master branch). No bytecode-diff was run in this slice — recorded in unknowns rather than as a finding.
    V3
    Pinned audit links in the per-protocol context: Sigma Prime audit PDF (rocketpool.net), ConsenSys Diligence (consensys.net/diligence/audits/2021/04/rocketpool), Trail of Bits (trailofbits/publications/reviews/RocketPool.pdf). Newer audits for Saturn 1 in 2025: Sigma Prime (completed), Spearbit/Cantina (fix verification), Bailsec (interim), per team's October 2025 roadmap post.
    V4
    Recognized firms named explicitly in fetched evidence: Sigma Prime, ConsenSys Diligence, Trail of Bits, Spearbit (Cantina), ChainSafe — all on the rubric's recognized-firm list except ChainSafe and Bailsec (Bailsec is an emerging firm).
    V5
    Saturn 1 launched on Ethereum mainnet around 11–18 February 2026, with all three Saturn audit engagements (Sigma Prime, Spearbit/Cantina, Bailsec) completed pre-launch per the team's own roadmap; this is post-audit deployment with fix verification, not unaudited drift.
    V6
    Not applicable — Rocket Pool's upgrade indirection is registry-based (RocketStorage stores name→address mappings for each network contract), so there is no proxy/implementation pair to verify separately.
    Why is this consensus tentative?
    • weak consensus margin

    A fresh independent run can strengthen (or overturn) the verdict.

    Run your own prompt Submit run ↗
    Sources claude-opus-4-7 url ↗ gpt-5.5-thinking url ↗ claude-sonnet-4-6 (autorun) no url grok-3 url ↗ gpt-5-codex no url View raw submissions ↗
  2. Control orange 6/6 models agree AI-only 5/6 with chat share link
    Rocket Pool has a long-delay registry-upgrade path, but T1 contract changes still route through the oDAO rather than broad token governance or a verified Security Council.
    Verdict

    Choosing orange because the evidence shows a delayed T1 upgrade path, but the controlling actor for contract-code upgrades is the oDAO committee and this run did not verify that it satisfies the Security Council standard or that T1 upgrades are executed through broad token governance.

    Steelman argument
    Steelman argument The orange case is that T1 registry upgrades are reachable through the oDAO committee rather than broad token governance or a verified Security Council, even though a long delay is present.
    Evidence (7)
    C1
    RocketStorage at 0x1d8f8f00cfa6758d7bE78336684788Fb0ee0Fa46 is live and getGuardian() returns 0x0cCF14983364A7735d369879603930Afe10df21e. RocketDAOProtocol and RocketDAONodeTrusted both read bootstrap mode disabled, so the guardian bootstrap path was not treated as an active no-delay upgrade path in this run.
    C2
    Rocket Pool uses registry/EternalStorage-style upgrade indirection rather than a standard Transparent/UUPS/Beacon proxy path: RocketStorage exposes mutable registry/storage setters, RocketDAONodeTrustedProposals exposes proposalUpgrade(), and RocketDAONodeTrustedUpgrade exposes upgrade(), execute(), bootstrapUpgrade(), and veto().
    C3
    The oDAO T1 upgrade path is RocketDAONodeTrustedProposals proposalUpgrade()/vote()/execute() into RocketDAONodeTrustedUpgrade upgrade()/execute(). The oDAO timing reads return getVoteDelayTime=604800, getVoteTime=1209600, and getExecuteTime/getActionTime=2419200 seconds; the uncontested credited path is therefore at least 4233600 seconds, or 49 days.
    C4
    RocketDAONodeTrusted reports 10 members, getMemberMinRequired=3, and getMemberQuorumVotesRequired=5100000000000000000. This was assessed as a committee-governance actor, not a fetched Safe; signer identities and insider/non-insider classifications were not fully verified, so it was not credited as a Security Council.
    C5
    The pDAO proposal system is separate from the oDAO code-upgrade path. RocketDAOProtocolSettingsProposals reads getVoteDelayTime=604800, getVotePhase1Time=604800, getVotePhase2Time=604800, getExecuteTime=2419200, getProposalQuorum=150000000000000000, and getProposalVetoQuorum=200000000000000000; RocketDAOProtocolProposal exposes propose(), vote(), finalise(), execute(), destroy(), and overrideVote().
    C6
    RocketDAONodeTrustedUpgrade exposes veto() and an UpgradeVetoed event, indicating a veto/emergency surface, but the current veto actor membership and exact emergency scope were not fully enumerated from pinned on-chain addresses in this run.
    C7
    The highest reachable tier is T1 because the oDAO proposal/upgrade surface includes proposalUpgrade() plus upgrade()/execute() and ContractUpgraded/ContractAdded events against the protocol contract registry. The no-delay bootstrapUpgrade() ABI surface exists, but deployed bootstrap-mode reads were disabled.
    Sources GPT-5.5 Thinking url ↗ claude-sonnet-4-6 url ↗ claude-opus-4-7 url ↗ gpt-5.5-thinking url ↗ claude-opus-4-8 (autorun) no url grok-3 url ↗ View raw submissions ↗
  3. Ability to exit tentative 3/3 models agree AI-only 3/3 with chat share link
    rETH burn() is permissionless with no pause guard; exit subject only to in-contract collateral buffer and secondary-market depth
    Verdict

    Choosing green because the rETH burn() function in deployed bytecode has no pause guard, no role gate, and no admin signature requirement (only collateral availability and an anti-MEV per-user deposit delay); when collateral is insufficient, holders still have unconditional access via permissionless secondary markets (Uniswap V3, Balancer, CowSwap). The buffer-limit concern is a liquidity story, not a permission story, and the rubric grades the permission side here.

    Steelman argument
    Steelman argument The exit primitive is permissionless, unpausable, and directly callable on-chain without any frontend or admin signature; the constraint is liquidity, not permission, and secondary-market routes remain available unconditionally.
    Evidence (7)
    E1
    Main user-facing exit functions on rETH (0xae78736C…): burn(uint256) redeems rETH for ETH from the protocol's collateral buffer; transfer/transferFrom move rETH to secondary markets. mint() and depositExcess() are gated to RocketDepositPool and are not user-exits.
    E2
    burn() source has no whenNotPaused / onlyRole / pause-guard modifier — requirements are (a) amount > 0, (b) caller balance ≥ amount, (c) rETH-contract-side ethBalance via getTotalCollateral() ≥ ethAmount required, (d) _beforeTokenTransfer enforces a per-user 'network.reth.deposit.delay' between the depositor's last mint and any transfer/burn (anti-MEV, not a pause).
    E3
    No role-gated pause role on the burn path. No 'paused' or PAUSE_ROLE indicator on the rETH contract (no method-not-found for paused under defipunkd surfacer fallback list because the ABI does not declare one).
    E4
    No separate emergency vs governance pause path on rETH burn(). Saturn 1 added 'constraints on oDAO-submitted balance data' to protect the exchange rate, but these are sanity bands, not pause guards.
    E5
    No queued redemption with a documented max queue duration is implemented for rETH today. RPIP-71 (rETH withdrawal liquidity via EIP-7002 forced exits) is planned for Saturn 2 (not yet live as of analysis_date). At block 25046092 the rETH contract reported getCollateralRate=~0.71% and getTotalCollateral≈2,744 ETH against totalSupply≈334,224 rETH (~388k ETH-equivalent), so direct burn for large positions reverts until the buffer refills via new minipool deposits / validator exits — independent secondary markets (Uniswap V3, Balancer, CowSwap) are the unconditional alternative.
    E6
    No on-chain forced-exit / escape hatch from the validator layer to user rETH today; this is the explicit purpose of the planned EIP-7002-based mechanism in Saturn 2 and is recorded as a future protection, not a present one.
    E7
    burn() is callable directly via Etherscan's Write Contract, raw eth_sendTransaction, or any generic wallet; the rocketpool.net frontend is not required.
    Why is this consensus tentative?
    • weak consensus margin

    A fresh independent run can strengthen (or overturn) the verdict.

    Run your own prompt Submit run ↗
    Sources claude-opus-4-7 url ↗ gpt-5.5-thinking url ↗ grok-3 url ↗ View raw submissions ↗
  4. Autonomy tentative
    Validator set reduces autonomy

    Liquid staking and restaking protocols hand solvency to an external validator set with slashing dynamics they do not control. At Phase 0 this is a category-level heuristic; a real Autonomy assessment (oracles, fallbacks, governance-mutable dependencies) arrives with onchain review.

    Run your own prompt Submit run ↗
  5. Open Access green 3/3 models agree AI-only 3/3 with chat share link
    rETH mint/burn and node-operator entry are permissionless at the contract level; multiple independent access paths exist (CowSwap, aggregators, third-party SDKs)
    Verdict

    Choosing green because (a) the on-chain rETH and deposit contracts impose no whitelist/KYC/operator-approval on entry or exit, (b) the team's own October 2025 update lists CowSwap as a launched integration distinct from the official UI, and (c) third-party AMM routing (Uniswap V3, Balancer V2) is documented and live. The frontend ToS posture on rocketpool.net could not be quoted verbatim this run, but per the rubric ToS posture on one client cannot move the grade when contracts are permissionless and an independent A3b path exists.

    Steelman argument
    Steelman argument Contract-level access is unconditional; independent UI paths (CowSwap integration confirmed in team's own roadmap post, plus AMM exits on Uniswap V3 and Balancer V2 documented in third-party tutorials) exist and are not gated by Rocket Pool Pty Ltd, satisfying the A3b independent-path test.
    Evidence (8)
    A1
    rETH ABI shows no onlyWhitelisted / isAccredited / onlyRole modifier on user-facing token methods (transfer, approve, burn). burn() has no allowlist; the upstream RocketDepositPool.deposit (via rocketpool.net or direct call) is also not address-gated by docs/audit.
    A2
    No off-chain operator approval is required to admit a user deposit or burn — deposits flow into a permissionless pool and minipools are matched by the protocol; oDAO submits balance reports but does not approve individual user actions.
    A3-passive
    rocketpool.net is a single-page app and the ToS text could not be extracted verbatim from search/fetch (the public page is JS-only); recorded in unknowns as a verbatim-quote failure, not a finding.
    A3-active
    No evidence in fetched search-result bodies of IP geo-blocking or sanctions-oracle wallet screening on the official rocketpool.net frontend; absence of evidence is not evidence of absence (recorded as unknown).
    A3b
    Independent access paths verified in fetched evidence: CowSwap integration (per October 2025 team roadmap post: 'we were excited to launch the CowSwap integration, providing rETH stakers with flexibility, the best price, and MEV-protection'); third-party aggregator routing (Uniswap V3 and Balancer V2 documented exit paths by Cyfrin defi-reth tutorial); RockSolid vault integration; rETH burn() callable directly from any wallet.
    A4
    No on-chain OFAC / sanctions blocklist embedded in rETH or RocketDepositPool contracts per the source files inspected.
    A5
    Read access is fully public via Etherscan and the defipunkd read API; write access (deposit, burn, transfer) is permissionless at the contract level.
    A6
    ToS verbatim text could not be extracted (rocketpool.net is SPA-rendered).
    Sources claude-opus-4-7 url ↗ gpt-5.5-thinking url ↗ grok-3 url ↗ View raw submissions ↗

Stage

Preview of the Phase-3 maturity framework. DeFiPunk'd will adopt DeFiScan v2's stages verbatim; the section is rendered below in its intended shape so the structure is visible today.

Rocket Pool has not yet been assessed under the DeFiScan v2 stage framework.
The walkaway test is the central criterion. Once stages land, protocols reach Stage 1 only if users can exit in the presence of malicious operators even when the emergency council disappears.
Scope of assessment
Stages are assessed per-protocol against DeFiScan v2's criteria: governance structure, upgradeability path, timelock durations, emergency-council scope, and the walkaway test. The analysis depends on onchain discovery (roles, owners, timelocks) and deeper review of deployed contracts — neither of which DeFiPunk'd automates at Phase 0.
Stage 0 requirements pending
Governance is largely off-chain, contracts are upgradeable with short or no timelock, and the protocol depends on a multisig or team with full discretion. At Phase 0 DeFiPunk'd does not automatically evaluate these; the assessment lands with crawler-based onchain discovery.
Stage 1 requirements pending
Users can exit or opt out on their own terms even if the team disappears. Upgrades run through a meaningful timelock with an emergency security council clearly scoped. The walkaway test is the headline criterion.
Stage 2 requirements pending
Protocol is fully permissionless and immutable, or upgrades require a supermajority of token holders with a long timelock and no emergency override. This is the terminal stage of the DeFiScan v2 framework.
Learn more about DeFiScan v2 stages →
Stages are an opinionated assessment of maturity, not a rating of security or safety. A protocol can sit at Stage 2 and still carry substantial technical or economic risk; the framework exists to incentivize decentralization, not to rank protocols.

Contract surface

Every contract in scope for this protocol — pooled from DeFiLlama's TVL adapter (mechanical) and DEFI@home discovery submissions (LLM-curated). Verified-source flags come from Etherscan + Sourcify; owner / multisig metadata is read on-chain when available. Reviewer audit context, not a slice score. A lending protocol's adapter set will list third-party collateral tokens alongside its own contracts; attribution is the grader's job.

  • 9addresses
  • 5verified source
  • 0proxies

TVL adapter pinned at 683d369. Sourcecode fetched 2026-05-06. Control fetched 2026-05-14.

ethereumnull0x0000…0000TVL
ethereumRocketMinipoolManager0xe54b…d62cTVL
ethereumRocketVault0x3bdc…69d6TVL
ethereumRocketDAONodeTrusted0xb8e7…2cc9TVL
ethereumRocketTokenRPL0xd335…a51fTVL
ethereumRocketNodeManager0xcf2d…e250TVL
Ethereumstorage0x1d8f…fa46discovery
Ethereumtoken (rETH)0xae78…6393discoverytoken
Ethereumtoken (RPL legacy)0xb4ef…bd93discoverytoken

Protocol Info

Links

[defillama] Source: DeFiLlama [:] Source: DEFI@home quorum
Twitter
@Rocket_Pool
Governance forum
https://dao.rocketpool.net

Security

[:] Source: DEFI@home quorum
Audits
11 audits
Security contact
unknown

Technical

[:] Source: DEFI@home quorum
Voting token
RPL Ethereum: 0xb4efd85c19999d84251304bda99e90b92300bd93
Upgradeability
Unknown

Provenance

[defillama] Source: DeFiLlama [:] Source: DEFI@home quorum
Review status
listed
Updated
2026-06-05 13:39 UTC