onflow Flow DeFi Architecture
Design and build DeFi protocols on Flow — covering architectural advantages, core primitives, liquidity strategy, and the ecosystem landscape.
Navigation Map
| Task | Reference |
|---|---|
| Flow DeFi foundations: COAs, MEV-free EVM, cross-VM atomicity, on-chain automation | protocol-architecture.md |
| Core primitives: lending models, AMM type selection guide, risk framework | defi-primitives.md |
| Liquidity bootstrapping: veFLOW, Merkl, CL ranges, failure modes, benchmarks | liquidity-strategy.md |
| Ecosystem map: current state, missing primitives, opportunity analysis | ecosystem-map.md |
| Protocol safety: oracle sourcing, foreign-contract assumptions, emergency stop | protocol-safety.md |
Key Principles
- MEV-free EVM — Flow's architecture prevents sandwich attacks on the EVM side; LP positions retain more yield
- Cross-VM atomicity — A single Cadence transaction can call EVM contracts atomically (no bridges for Cadence↔EVM)
- COA pattern — Cadence Owned Accounts bridge Cadence logic and EVM contracts within the same address space
- On-chain automation — FlowTransactionScheduler (FLIP 330) enables recurring transactions without keeper bots
- Lock-up or lose — Liquidity programs without lock-ups lose 60–80% TVL within 30 days
- Price from a feed, never a pool — reserves move within a transaction, so a spot price is an attacker-chosen input
- Stoppable without an upgrade — a contract holding value needs a pause switch that still lets users withdraw
Companion Skills
flow-tokenomics— Use alongside when designing the token economics for your DeFi protocol (veFLOW-style governance token, fee distribution, etc.).cadence-lang— Consult for Cadence language rules when implementing protocol contracts. Itssecurity-best-practices.mdcarries the general contract security rules — checks-effects-interactions, resolving a path once, trust-boundary validation, bounded loops — thatprotocol-safety.mdhere builds on.cadence-audit— Use to audit protocol contracts before deployment.