Isolated Risk

Definition ∞ Isolated risk refers to a situation where the potential for loss or negative impact is confined to a specific component, asset, or protocol within a larger system. In decentralized finance, this means that a failure or exploit in one particular application or liquidity pool would not necessarily spread to or affect other independent parts of the ecosystem. Designing protocols with isolated risk principles aims to prevent cascading failures and enhance the overall resilience of the digital asset landscape. It limits the systemic exposure.
Context ∞ The concept of isolated risk is a critical design consideration for robust decentralized finance protocols, particularly given the interconnected nature of many DeFi applications. News often discusses new protocol architectures that implement stronger isolation measures to mitigate systemic risk. Developers prioritize this approach to safeguard user funds and maintain network stability, especially following incidents where exploits in one protocol affected others.