A newcomer wants to see if a project is reliable, but don't focus first on phrases like "on-chain profits" or "benchmarking US bonds." Instead, look at three things: Is there consistent activity on GitHub? Do the audit reports clearly point out potential issues in plain language? Is the upgrade multi-signature rather than decided by a single person on a whim? Honestly, you can fake update frequency and cherry-pick audits to show off, but multi-signature setups are the hardest to fake — who holds the permissions? It’s immediately obvious whether it’s "decentralized" or "anyone can ask." I’d rather have slightly lower returns than wake up in the middle of the night to a one-click upgrade.