UDC: 330.16
https://doi.org/10.25198/2077-7175-2026-5-33


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PROTOCOL AGENCY IN DeFi

E. I. Dyudikova
Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia
e-mail: ekidyudikova@fa.ru

Abstract. The article examines the specific features of DeFi actors’ behavior as a form of financial action emerging within the programmable environment of smart contracts, distributed infrastructure, and network governance. The initial research problem lies in the insufficiency of interpreting the DeFi user solely as an investor or consumer of a digital financial product, since their actions simultaneously involve key management, interpretation of protocol rules, assess-ment of liquidity, engagement with social signals, and acceptance of irreversible transactional consequences. The aim of the study is to develop a model of behavioral patterns among DeFi actors and to identify the logic of transitions between them, taking into account operational autonomy, compositional risk exposure, and modes of intermediation. The meth¬odological framework comprises the systems approach, comparative institutional analysis, structural-functional modelling, classification, and the principles of behavioral finance. The study substantiates the category of protocol-based agency, which reveals the combination of autonomy, dependency, and distributed responsibility in decentralized finance. It proposes a typology of eight patterns of DeFi behavior: delegated-validational, operationally sovereign, governance-protocol, signal-imitative, defensive-migratory, yield-expansionary, liquidity-compositional, and arbitrage-algorithmic. The article shows that these patterns are not fixed user types but dynamic modes of action, between which progressive, defensive, imitative, and institutional transitions are possible. The scientific novelty of the results consists in moving beyond a static classification of participants toward an analysis of configurations of action formed at the intersection of technological constraints, economic incentives, and social validation. Particular attention is paid to the limitations of directly interpreting on-chain data: transactional traces record the structure of actions, but do not disclose motivation, competence level, or sources of trust. The article concludes that DeFi behavior must be analyzed through the configuration of protocol understanding, operational control, social heuristics, and institutional uncertainty.

Key words: decentralized finance, composability risk, operational autonomy, behavioral patterns, intermediation, protocol agency, distributed ledger, smart contract, financial behavior.

Cite as: Dyudikova, E. I. (2026) [Protocol agency in DeFi]. Intellekt. Innovacii. Investicii [Intellect. Innovations. Investments]. Vol. 5, pp. 33–45. – https://doi.org/10.25198/2077-7175-2026-5-33.


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