Liquidation Trigger Failures
Liquidation trigger failures happen when the mechanism responsible for closing out under-collateralized positions fails to execute correctly. This can occur due to oracle errors, network congestion, or bugs in the smart contract code.
When a liquidation should happen but does not, the protocol remains exposed to the risk of the collateral’s value falling further, potentially leading to a situation where the debt can no longer be covered. This creates systemic risk, as the loss may eventually have to be socialized among all protocol participants.
Ensuring that liquidation triggers are robust, redundant, and always functional is a top priority for developers. It requires rigorous testing, formal verification of code, and the implementation of fallback mechanisms to ensure that the protocol can always protect its solvency, even under the most extreme conditions.