Smart Contract Audit
An independent security review of a protocol's code, checking for bugs or vulnerabilities before (or after) it goes live with real user funds.
A smart contract audit is an independent review — usually by a specialized security firm — of a DeFi protocol or DEX's code, looking for bugs, logic errors, or vulnerabilities that could be exploited to drain user funds. Reputable audit firms publish their findings, and a serious project typically fixes flagged issues before (or shortly after) launch.
An audit is a real, meaningful signal, but it isn't a guarantee — audits only catch what the specific auditor's methodology happens to look for, code can change after an audit without a new one being commissioned, and some of the largest DeFi exploits in history happened to protocols that had already passed one or more audits. Treat "audited" as one data point among several (team reputation, time in operation, bug bounty programs), not a stamp of total safety.