🔐 Upgrade Security: Timelocks & Multisig
Discover how to secure upgrades with governance controls
Learn upgradeable smart contract patterns
Your Progress
0 / 5 completed🔐 Upgrade Governance Models
Who controls upgrades? This question determines security. Single admin = fast but risky (one key compromise = total loss). Multisig = balanced (requires multiple signers). Timelock = safer (community can exit before malicious upgrade). DAO governance = slowest but most decentralized (token holders vote). Trade-off: speed vs security vs decentralization.
🎮 Interactive: Governance Model Comparison
Select a governance model to see its upgrade process, security level, trade-offs, and real-world examples. Compare models to choose the right security for your protocol's stage and TVL.
👤 Single Admin
One address (EOA or contract) has upgrade rights. Admin can call upgradeTo() anytime. Fastest but highest risk.
- •Fastest upgrade process
- •Lowest gas costs
- •Simple implementation
- •Good for rapid bug fixes
- •Single point of failure
- •Admin key compromise = total loss
- •No checks or balances
- •Community has no voice
Early development, testnet, trusted teams, low-value protocols
Early-stage startups, MVPs, experimental protocols
🔒 Upgrade Security Checklist
Use OpenZeppelin Upgrades Plugin. Run verify:upgrade before deploying. Catches storage collisions automatically.
Use initializer modifier (OpenZeppelin). Prevents reinitialization attacks. Critical: call initialize() immediately after deployment.
Never allow selfdestruct in Logic contract. If Logic is destroyed, Proxy becomes unusable. Parity hack lesson.
Use hardware wallets for admin keys. Never store in hot wallets or code. Rotate keys regularly. Consider multisig (Gnosis Safe).
Get professional audit (Trail of Bits, OpenZeppelin, etc.). Focus on upgrade logic, storage layout, admin controls. Cost: $50K-200K but worth it.
Deploy Proxy + Logic V1 on testnet. Perform real upgrade to V2. Test all functions. Verify state preservation. Only then deploy mainnet.
Implement pause() function. If upgrade goes wrong, pause contract immediately. Buys time to fix or rollback.
🎯 Decentralization Progression
Most protocols start centralized and progressively decentralize. This balances speed (early stage) with security (mature stage).
Fast iteration, low TVL (<$1M). Risk acceptable.
Medium TVL ($1M-100M). Distributed trust.
High TVL ($100M+). Community protection.
Very high TVL ($500M+). Full decentralization.
💡 Key Insight
Upgrade governance is about trust minimization, not elimination. Even with DAO governance, someone writes the upgrade code. Even with timelocks, users must monitor proposals. Even with multisig, signers could collude. Perfect security doesn't exist. Instead, match governance to your protocol's maturity: single admin for MVP (move fast), multisig for growth (balance speed/security), timelock for mature (protect users), DAO for established (full decentralization). And always: audit, test, validate, then upgrade.