Recently, I saw that a certain mainstream public chain is about to upgrade/maintain, and everyone in the group is guessing whether the project will move. As someone who has watched TVL grow, my first reaction isn't "it's going to take off," but to check their GitHub and audit reports... Basically, I just want to figure out: are they really working or just telling stories.

How do beginners assess credibility? My own simple method: first, see if the code is being continuously updated, not just a big commit once a week to cover their face; then check if the audit report has a "fixed/unfixed" comparison, don't just look at a logo; finally, look at the upgrade multisig, who are the signers, what are the thresholds, is there a timelock (giving you time to react before they run away). I no longer believe the phrase "audit = security," but I also don't bother pretending to be an expert. At least these can filter out half of the actors pretending. Anyway, when TVL rises, I call it fake; if I really want to put money in, I still get a bit hesitant.