DeFi projects quietly "abandon" Discord: scams rampant, reshaping communication methods in the crypto community

January 15 News, as scam activities continue to spread across public community channels, more and more decentralized finance (DeFi) projects are re-evaluating the role of Discord. Some protocols have chosen to gradually withdraw from the platform and adopt a more closed and controllable user support system.

This week, DeFi lending protocol Morpho announced that its public Discord server has been set to read-only mode, guiding users to seek support through other official channels. This move quickly sparked discussions within the industry and also highlighted the real issue that Discord is shifting from a “community hub” to a source of security risks. Several developers pointed out that Discord has become one of the most frequently exploited public channels by crypto scammers, especially when users actively seek technical support.

Pseudo-founder 0xngmi of DeFi data platform DefiLlama revealed that his team has long begun reducing reliance on Discord, switching to real-time customer service chat and email ticket systems. He bluntly stated that it is almost impossible to effectively protect users in the Discord environment; even if scam accounts are quickly banned, attackers still carry out phishing through private messages.

Morpho co-founder Merlin Egalite also said that abandoning Discord was not a rash decision. The team had invested significant resources in monitoring and management, but scam issues continued to recur. Currently, Morpho is testing tools including Intercom, hoping to improve security and efficiency through ticket systems and AI auto-replies.

Several community and operations leaders within the industry expressed support for this trend. Richard Rodairos, talent partner at Dragonfly, believes that public Discord has become one of the least efficient channels for information dissemination in the crypto industry. Clearer documentation and asynchronous support are more conducive to long-term development. Marc Zeller, founder of Aavechan Initiative, also pointed out that fake administrators frequently appear in Discord, and new users are often the primary targets.

However, some voices believe that completely leaving Discord could weaken the culture of open collaboration in DeFi. Some community members emphasize that the core issue lies in management and execution, not the platform itself. Well-managed Discord servers can still remain active and secure.

Against the backdrop of rising scam risks, how DeFi projects balance user safety, community participation, and operational efficiency is becoming an important topic in the governance and community building of the crypto industry in 2026.