Economic & Risk Services
Ecosystem Risk Assessment
Every protocol depends on more than just its code. Three Sigma’s Ecosystem Risk Assessment maps your critical dependencies, models attack paths, and stress-tests key parameters so you can operate with confidence, even in volatile market conditions.
100+
audits
completed
$8.2B
in client assets protected
$183.2B
in transacted value secured
300+
crit / high issues found
Consolidated clients
A blockchain security company with
3+ years of experience
Our team maps your critical dependencies and applies threat modeling plus quantitative DeFi risk analysis to size real failure modes and blast radius. Whether you run a DEX, stablecoin, bridge, or restaking AVS, we deliver minimal-change guardrails: safe-mode parameters, fallback routes, pause scopes, monitoring KPIs, and incident runbooks.
What is an Ecosystem Risk Assessment??
An Ecosystem Risk Assessment takes a broader look at your protocol’s environment, from sequencers and bridges to oracles, liquidity venues, and governance layers. We combine threat modeling and quantitative DeFi risk analysis to pinpoint vulnerabilities and recommend targeted, minimal-change improvements. It pairs seamlessly with a smart contract security audit, and for token design or incentives, we recommend adding a tokenomics audit.
Why do Ecosystem Risk Assessments Matter?
A lot of risk sits around your code. If any of these move unexpectedly, your system’s assumptions may no longer hold. An Ecosystem Risk Assessment documents the dependencies, recommends guardrails, and provides clear playbooks to contain issues fast.
Our Approach to Ecosystem Risk Assessment
Our risk assessment service for Web3 teams starts by understanding your protocol’s needs, objectives and constraints, then inventory the external services and market conditions you depend on. From there, we analyze trust boundaries and pinpoint where assumptions about pricing, liveness, finality, liquidity, or governance could put your invariants at risk
We turn that analysis into actionable items for you detailing risk priorities, parameter ranges that keep you safe, sensible fallbacks, pause scopes, monitoring signals, and incident runbooks your team can execute. Quick wins are separated from structural changes, and we verify fixes so they stick. For end-to-end coverage, pair this with a Smart Contract Audit, Opsec and Dapp audit.
Common Common Ecosystem Risks
Oracle drift & thin liquidity
Reliance on shallow pools or single feeds invites manipulation or stale prices; under stress, trades move markets and break thresholds/liquidation math.
Bridge & cross-chain risk
Breaks in message proofs, validator sets, or custody controls allow forged/replayed messages or key compromise, releasing assets or desynchronizing states.
Sequencer / L2 downtime
Sequencer halts, lag, or reordering delay finality/submissions, creating timing gaps that misprice or block keeper actions and liquidations.
Stablecoin & peg risk
Collateral correlations, redemption frictions, blacklists, or opaque reserves erode confidence; pegs wobble, spreads widen, and integrations cascade into liquidity stress or insolvency.
MEV & liquidation pathologies
Priority ordering enables sandwiching, backrunning, or keeper starvation; critical txs slip after oracle updates, causing unfair liquidations, missed auctions, or drained buffers.
Governance & admin powers
Upgrade keys, multisigs, or voting without checks, delays, or scope limits invite abuse; emergency powers or proposals can alter invariants, pause incorrectly, or seize control.
Restaking / AVS exposure
Shared-security dependencies create correlated validator risk and slashing; upstream failures propagate, degrading liveness, oracle quality, and bridge verification.
Typical ecosystem risks include some of the issues listed below. These external faults can cascade into mispricing, unintended liquidations, stuck transfers, or stalled operations. An Ecosystem Risk Assessment applies DeFi risk analysis best practices to size these risks and prioritize guardrails.
Our Ecosystem Risk Assessment Process
Scoping and Planning
Define objectives, scope, and included dependencies.
Ecosystem Mapping
Diagram data/value flows and trust boundaries across external services.
Threat Modeling
Identify credible failure modes and cascade paths; estimate blast radius.
Analysis & Simulations
Run stress scenarios, parameter sensitivity, optional fork checks.
Reporting & Recommendations
Provide severity-ranked risks, minimal-change controls, runbooks, and monitoring guidance.
Verification
Review fixes and confirm mitigations as needed.
Hear from our Clients
Deliverables You Can Expect
Our Ecosystem Risk Assessment delivers a concise report that prioritizes risks and outlines practical, minimal-change recommendations. You also get a simple implementation checklist, with an optional brief verification pass after fixes.
Post-audit support is included
to help your team implement fixes and validate their effectiveness.
See our Case Studies for examples.
What You Gain
from a Three Sigma Audit
Lower probability of catastrophic loss or freezes.
Better posture for listings, integrations, and market-making.
Faster incident response with predefined controls.
Higher user/investor confidence, and smoother downstream audits.
Industries We Secure
Our audits have helped secure decentralized applications across multiple verticals.
DeFi &
Liquidity
Lending platforms, DEXs, and staking protocols.
NFT &
Collectibles
Marketplaces, launchpads, and minting platforms.
Gaming &
Metaverse
Play-to-earn games, asset trading hubs, and immersive experiences.
Cross-Chain Infrastructure
Bridges, oracles, and interoperability layers.
Frequent answers and questions
Check out the Ecosystem Risk Assessment F.A.Q.
How is this different from a smart contract audit?
A code audit checks your contracts. Ecosystem Risk Assessment checks the broader stack—bridges, oracles, L2s, liquidity, governance—so external failures don’t break your invariants (e.g., Bridge / Cross-Chain Apps Audits, Blockchain L1 & L2 Protocol Audits, Governance & DAO Audit). Most teams do both smart contract audits and ecosystem risk assessments.
When should we schedule it?
Before launch, major listings/bridges/oracle changes, parameter overhauls (often part of a Mechanism Design Review, or after incidents in your dependency set (depegs, sequencer outages, bridge bugs), typically addressed through an Incident & Emergency Response.
What inputs do you need?
Architecture docs, oracle/bridge configs, governance powers, parameter sets, keeper details, liquidity venues, and existing monitoring.
How long does it take?
Typical engagements run 2–8 weeks depending on scope and dependency breadth.
What’s the output we can act on immediately?
A severity-ranked plan with minimal-change fixes, safe-mode parameters, incident runbooks, and monitoring alerts you can implement the same day.