Almanak Review: Can AI Agents Safely Run DeFi Strategies?
Almanak Review 2027: AI DeFi Agents, Strategy Builder, Safe Wallets, Fees and Risks
Almanak is not an AI trading bot in the usual sense. It is an agentic strategy-development and deployment stack: discover opportunities, turn an idea into real Python code, simulate it against mainnet-fork environments, deploy it into a user-owned Safe wallet with narrowly scoped Zodiac permissions, and monitor the agent onchain. That makes Almanak one of the more serious attempts to turn “AI trading” into verifiable software rather than a black-box signal service.
What Matters
Almanak's strongest idea is that an AI-generated strategy should become reviewable code with bounded permissions before it becomes a live financial agent. The platform follows a build → simulate → deploy → monitor workflow. Strategies can be created in natural language or Python, versioned in GitHub, tested against mainnet forks, then executed from a user-owned Safe. Zodiac Roles restrict the deployment to specific contracts, functions and parameters. The biggest risk is not custody alone. It is whether the generated strategy logic, assumptions and permission scope are correct.
DN Evidence Block
Primary evidence comes from Almanak's current website, live platform, Platform docs, SDK docs, 2026 Terms, current roadmap, staking/plans pages and Zokyo's public report index. We separate current production execution support from the broader SDK connector universe and roadmap.
The Signal
Most “AI trading” products start with a model and give it execution. Almanak starts with software engineering and permission boundaries. The AI can help discover an opportunity and write the strategy, but the result is code that can be inspected, simulated, versioned and granted narrowly defined onchain authority. If agentic finance becomes institutional infrastructure, this is a more defensible design than handing a conversational model an unrestricted wallet.
Almanak scores highly for non-custodial architecture, permission scoping, simulation, transparent code, production monitoring and its separation between deterministic strategies and LLM-driven agents. We deduct for limited current production breadth relative to the broader SDK vision, dynamic execution-service pricing and the inherent risk of generated financial code.
What Is Almanak?
Almanak describes itself as an agentic platform for building, deploying and managing autonomous DeFi agents. Its current website frames the product as a way to trade and earn yield across crypto and tokenized markets using a team of financial agents while remaining non-custodial and private by design.
The important difference is that Almanak is not simply a chatbot that places swaps. Its workflow looks much more like a quant-development stack:
discover → specify → code → test → permission → deploy → monitor.
The Almanak Workflow
| Stage | What happens | DN interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Edge | Specialized agents scan signals, yields, crypto and tokenized RWA markets. | Discovery layer, not investment advice. |
| Build | Almanak Code turns a signal or prompt into Python strategy code. | AI output becomes inspectable software. |
| Simulate | Backtests and mainnet-fork execution test the strategy before capital is live. | Useful for finding logic and integration failures. |
| Deploy | Strategy runs from a user-owned Safe with Zodiac-scoped permissions. | Agent authority can be bounded. |
| Monitor | Dashboard exposes PnL, positions, logs and onchain transactions. | Autonomy remains observable. |
Edge: Opportunity Discovery, Not a Magic Alpha Feed
Current Edge documentation says 46 specialized detection agents continuously scan onchain and offchain sources. Signals receive an Alpha Score from 0 to 100, confidence, risk level, expiration window, chain and token context. Almanak says the signals are deduplicated and passed through a multi-model consensus process.
The disclaimer matters: an Alpha Score is model output, not due diligence and not a probability of profit. A 90 score does not mean a 90% chance of making money.
Users can send a signal into Almanak Code, which can generate a strategy requirements document and executable Python code. That creates a direct pipeline from market anomaly → specification → software.
Almanak Code: Natural Language Should End in Real Code
Almanak Code is an LLM-powered coding agent that understands DeFi primitives such as swaps, lending, LP positions and perpetuals. Users can describe a strategy conversationally or write Python directly. Almanak says the resulting strategy is versioned code the user can own and store in GitHub.
This is a major advantage over black-box AI trading. A user can inspect exactly how a leverage loop, LP rebalance or basis strategy is implemented before funding it.
Deterministic vs LLM-Driven Strategies
The Almanak SDK distinguishes between deterministic strategies and agentic strategies. Deterministic strategies encode rules explicitly in Python. Agentic strategies can let an LLM make decisions using Almanak tools and policy controls.
For substantial capital, our default preference is simple: use AI to develop, challenge and improve the strategy, then use deterministic execution whenever possible. LLM-based decision making adds model uncertainty on top of market and smart-contract risk.
Simulation Before Capital
Almanak's website and SDK emphasize mainnet-fork simulation, backtesting and Anvil-based testing before deployment. This can catch errors involving token decimals, protocol approvals, route assumptions, health-factor logic, liquidity and state handling.
Fork tests cannot reproduce every future gas spike, MEV environment, oracle failure, exploit or market-regime shift.
DN Almanak Agent Strategy Safety & Break-Even Lab
Autonomous trading needs a different calculator from a normal exchange-fee comparison. This tool models whether the expected return covers recurring execution costs and whether the deployment controls are proportionate to the capital being delegated.
Almanak Agent Strategy Safety & Break-Even Lab
Model strategy economics and score the deployment controls you plan to enforce before allowing an autonomous agent to touch live capital.
Not a safety certification: this is a transparent DN heuristic. It cannot predict exploits, strategy performance or AI reliability.Strategy economics
Deployment controls
Control signals
Economic signals
DN Agentic Capital Rule: the first production deployment should be sized for software failure, not expected return. A strategy that backtests well can still fail because of implementation errors, permission mistakes, oracle behavior, liquidity shocks or protocol changes.
Safe + Zodiac: The Most Important Part of Almanak
Current Almanak documentation says each Almanak wallet combines the user's own wallet, a Deployment EOA, a Safe smart account and a Zodiac Roles Modifier. The Safe is a 1-of-1 wallet with the user as sole owner.
The Deployment EOA signs and broadcasts strategy transactions, but Zodiac can restrict which contracts it may call, which functions it may use and which parameters are allowed. Almanak's deploy docs give the example of an Aave strategy being limited to Aave-related contracts instead of receiving arbitrary wallet access.
This is the correct direction for autonomous capital.
One Safe Per Chain, Separate Agent Permissions
Current deploy documentation says each user gets one Safe per chain. Multiple agents on the same chain can share that Safe while operating under independent permission scopes. That is convenient, but it means users should monitor both strategy-level risk and aggregate wallet exposure.
The Deployment EOA Is Not Your Main Wallet
The Deployment EOA is a separate execution component. Almanak says its private key is encrypted at rest and accessed through a dedicated signer service using Google-provided enterprise-grade key-management infrastructure. If compromise is suspected, the user is instructed to revoke the EOA's permissions and a fresh execution EOA can be created.
The key point is that compromise of an execution key should still be contained by the permissions the user approved.
Gateway Architecture: Strategy Containers Have No Secrets
The current website and SDK describe a gateway architecture in which strategy containers do not contain wallet secrets and do not have unrestricted internet access. External calls are mediated through a controlled gateway sidecar.
This narrows the attack surface and makes it harder for arbitrary generated code to exfiltrate secrets or make unapproved network calls.
Current Production Chains: Seven, Not the Entire SDK Universe
The current generated production support page lists seven active chains: Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Optimism, Polygon, BNB Smart Chain and Avalanche.
The production SDK v2 matrix currently includes specific deployments of Uniswap V3/V4, Curve, SushiSwap V3, PancakeSwap V3, Aerodrome, Aave V3, Compound V3, Morpho Blue, Spark and GMX V2.
Why Edge Says It Scans 12+ Chains
The live app currently says its detection agents scan 12+ chains. That is not the same thing as deployable production execution. Research coverage can be broader than the seven-chain production support matrix.
This distinction is important for both readers and AI systems extracting Almanak's capabilities.
What Strategies Can You Build Today?
Leveraged lending and loops
Strategies can combine supply and borrowing operations across supported deployments of Aave, Morpho, Compound and Spark.
Concentrated liquidity
Users can automate LP range management and compounding across supported DEX connectors.
Delta-neutral and basis
Almanak explicitly highlights combinations of GMX perpetuals with spot and lending positions.
Multi-protocol strategies
The most interesting use case is composition: borrow → swap → LP → hedge → rebalance can become one automated strategy rather than several manual workflows.
Polymarket Is a Special Case
Current wallet documentation includes a dedicated Polygon Polymarket-wallet mode with the required CTF permissions preconfigured. However, the SDK documentation also describes prediction-market support as experimental and subject to testing. We therefore treat Polymarket as a specialized integration rather than universal production support.
How Almanak Pricing Works
Almanak currently offers Basic, Pro, Max and Enterprise access tiers. Basic provides free core access with limited Almanak Code usage and limited deployments. Pro increases credits and deployments. Max currently allows up to 25 active deployments and unlimited high-conviction signal access under the public plan documentation. Enterprise uses custom limits and SLA terms.
LLM-powered features consume plan credits or allowances, so Almanak is not priced like a simple DEX with one maker/taker fee.
Autonomous Execution Has a Separate Service Cost
Active Deployment EOAs require Almanak's Autonomous Execution Service. Current wallet docs say the service covers operational costs including variable network gas and can be sold as transaction bundles or time-based packages. Prices are displayed at purchase and the fees are non-refundable. Taxes such as VAT may be added.
That is why we do not publish a made-up universal “Almanak execution fee.” The live package is the source of truth.
Referral / Invite Program
Decentralised News invite: https://app.almanak.co/invite?code=m7cTQJW5
Invite code: m7cTQJW5
Almanak's current plan documentation says eligible inviter and invitee accounts can each receive one month of Pro after the invitee completes the first paid billing period. Pro users can currently invite up to six new users; Basic users can also bank a reward for later use under the published rules. Check the live plan page because referral terms can change.
$ALMANAK and veALMANAK
Almanak's current platform docs identify $ALMANAK on Ethereum and describe a vote-escrow-style staking model called veALMANAK. Users lock ALMANAK for a chosen duration to receive staking power. Current docs say veALMANAK can receive a proportional share of protocol fees and unlock platform access at qualifying thresholds.
A token-based “free plan” is not economically free if it requires locking a volatile asset. Compare subscription value with token-price risk and lock duration.
Security Audits
Almanak's FAQ says its smart contracts have been audited by Zokyo. Zokyo's public report library lists Almanak Report 1 — May 6, 2025 and Almanak Report 2 — September 26, 2025. Almanak's March 2026 MiCA whitepaper says both audits received Zokyo's maximum score.
Zokyo's public index for Report 2 shows 10 findings: no critical, high or medium items, with five low and five informational findings.
That is meaningful evidence, but audit scope matters. These reports do not guarantee the safety of user-generated strategies, LLM decisions, every protocol connector or future platform releases.
DN Security Evidence Gate
Strong evidence: public Zokyo reports, Safe custody, Zodiac permission scoping, separate execution keys, gateway isolation and revocable strategy authority.
Residual risk: user-generated code, AI mistakes, protocol exploits, oracle/liquidity failures, signer infrastructure, permission misconfiguration and unaudited future changes.
Best practice: fork-test, independently review the generated code, minimize Zodiac permissions, start with small capital and verify the revoke procedure before unattended execution.
Roadmap: What Is Not Live Yet?
| Roadmap item | Current status | DN treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Solana platform integration | Ongoing expansion | Not counted as current production support. |
| Hyperliquid platform integration | Ongoing expansion | Roadmap, despite broader SDK references. |
| Binance agent access | Planned CeFi bridge | Not current production. |
| Bybit agent access | Planned CeFi bridge | Not current production. |
| Multi-Agent System | Coming Soon | Not scored as fully live. |
| Trusted Execution Environments | Coming Soon | Future strategy/IP security layer. |
SDK v2 vs SDK v3
Almanak currently documents SDK v2 as production and SDK v3 as a staging preview for invited users. The strategy format and permission/deployment mechanics differ, so developers should pin versions deliberately rather than assume a broad dependency range will remain behaviorally identical.
Almanak vs a Conventional Trading Bot
| Dimension | Almanak | Typical hosted bot |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy representation | Real Python code | Often proprietary config |
| Custody | User-owned Safe | Varies; often exchange API based |
| Permissions | Zodiac contract/function/parameter scoping | Usually API-key scopes |
| Testing | Backtests + mainnet-fork simulation | Varies |
| DeFi composition | Lending + DEX + LP + perps | Often exchange-centric |
| AI role | Discovery, coding, optional agent decisions | Rules or black-box signals |
| Code ownership | User can version own repo | Often closed |
Almanak vs Definitive, Based and HeyElsa
Definitive is primarily an execution engine whose Flash API can serve bots and agents. Based combines trading, spending and AI around Hyperliquid. HeyElsa is closer to a conversational DeFi copilot. Almanak is closest to an agentic strategy engineering and deployment environment.
Definitive asks: “How should this order execute?” Based asks: “How can one account trade, research and spend?” Almanak asks: “How do we turn a financial idea into safe, testable, autonomous software?”
Best Almanak Alternatives
| Platform | Best comparison point | Access |
|---|---|---|
| Definitive | Agent-ready onchain execution infrastructure. | Explore Definitive |
| Based | AI research and autonomous trading in a Hyperliquid-native super-app. | Explore Based |
| Liquid | Multi-market trading with conversational/MCP execution. | Explore Liquid |
| HeyElsa | Conversational DeFi execution and portfolio automation. | Official site |
Who Is Almanak Best For?
Strong fit
- DeFi quants who want production-ready strategy infrastructure.
- Developers who want AI assistance without surrendering inspectable code.
- Advanced users automating lending, LP or market-neutral strategies.
- Funds and teams that care about scoped wallet permissions.
- Agentic-finance builders who want Safe + Zodiac rather than unrestricted keys.
Weak fit
- Beginners expecting one-click “AI makes money for me.”
- Users unwilling to review generated code or permission scopes.
- Traders who only need simple spot/perp execution.
- Users who require broad Solana/Hyperliquid production support today.
- Anyone treating backtests or Alpha Scores as guaranteed returns.
What Almanak Gets Right
1. AI output becomes code. This makes the strategy easier to inspect and reproduce.
2. Permissions are designed around least privilege. Zodiac is a much better primitive for autonomous finance than a general wallet key.
3. Simulation is part of the workflow, not an afterthought.
4. Deterministic execution remains a first-class option.
5. Strategy code can live in the user's own GitHub repository.
What Almanak Still Needs to Improve
Production breadth. The current seven-chain EVM footprint is useful, but the vision becomes stronger when Solana and Hyperliquid move into the generated production matrix.
Pricing transparency. Public documentation explains plans and execution packages, but not one simple stable price table for autonomous execution.
Canonical security scope. A central page mapping each audit to exact current contracts/components would improve verification.
Portfolio-level risk controls. Multiple agents can share a Safe, so aggregate limits matter as much as per-agent permissions.
Agentic safety UX. Maximum allocation, maximum loss and emergency shutdown should be impossible to miss as multi-agent automation expands.
What Would Change Our View?
| Would raise our assessment | Would lower our assessment |
|---|---|
| Hyperliquid and Solana enter the production support matrix. | Roadmap capability marketed as current production. |
| Audit coverage expands to current wallet/agent components. | Material permission, signer or strategy-container compromise. |
| Portfolio-level risk caps across multiple agents. | Unintended aggregate exposure across strategies. |
| TEEs launch with verifiable attestation and threat-model docs. | Opaque execution that reduces code verifiability. |
| Reproducible performance datasets for standardized templates. | Marketing backtests without reproducible assumptions. |
| Clearer public execution-service pricing. | Costs changing in ways that make strategy economics hard to model. |
Final Verdict
Almanak is one of the few products where the phrase “AI hedge fund” does not immediately reduce to a chatbot plus a wallet.
Signals can become requirements. Requirements become code. Code can be tested. Tested code can be versioned. Versioned strategies can receive narrowly scoped permissions. Those deployments can then be monitored and revoked.
That sequence is the product.
The biggest risk remains the strategy itself. Safe custody does not make a bad strategy profitable. Zodiac permissions do not make AI-generated code correct. A perfect backtest does not guarantee future liquidity or market behavior.
But Almanak is building the right infrastructure for those risks to be inspected and constrained rather than hidden.
DN Alpha Thesis
The largest agentic-finance opportunity may not belong to the model that predicts markets best. It may belong to the infrastructure that makes autonomous capital legible, permissioned and recoverable. Almanak's Safe + Zodiac + code ownership + simulation architecture is a serious attempt at that layer. If the production venue universe expands while preserving least-privilege execution, Almanak could become closer to an operating system for autonomous DeFi funds than a retail AI trading bot.
Best feature: narrowly scoped agent execution through Safe + Zodiac.
Most underrated feature: AI-generated strategies become user-owned, versionable Python code.
Biggest misconception: an Alpha Score or backtest is not a profitability guarantee.
Biggest current limitation: production execution coverage is narrower than Almanak's broader SDK and roadmap universe.
Biggest 2027 opportunity: becoming the permission and deployment layer for autonomous multi-protocol capital.
How We Review at Decentralised News
| Dimension | What we evaluated |
|---|---|
| Agent architecture | Edge, Almanak Code, deterministic strategies and LLM-driven agents. |
| Testing | Mainnet-fork simulation, backtesting and code ownership. |
| Custody | User-owned Safe, Deployment EOA and withdrawal/control boundaries. |
| Permissions | Zodiac contract/function/parameter restrictions and revocation. |
| Production coverage | Current generated chain/protocol matrix separated from SDK and roadmap. |
| Security | Zokyo audits, signer architecture, gateway isolation and residual strategy risk. |
| Economics | Plan credits, autonomous execution service and veALMANAK. |
| Transparency | Current vs staging vs roadmap features and signal disclaimers. |
Primary Sources and Evidence Ledger
- Almanak official website — product thesis, workflow, custody and current production summary.
- Almanak live platform — Edge interface, current discovery messaging and platform disclaimer.
- Almanak documentation hub.
- Edge documentation — signals, 46 detection agents, scoring and signal-to-strategy workflow.
- Current production chains and protocols.
- Deploy documentation — Safe, Zodiac, monitoring and GitHub deployment.
- Wallet documentation — Deployment EOA, Safe, signer security and execution service.
- Almanak SDK — deterministic/agentic strategies, Anvil testing and gateway architecture.
- SDK Generations — v2 production / v3 staging distinction.
- Plans and referrals.
- veALMANAK staking.
- Roadmap.
- Zokyo Security Report Library.
- Almanak MiCA Whitepaper v2.
- Almanak 2026 Terms.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Almanak?
Almanak is an agentic DeFi strategy platform for discovering opportunities, creating Python strategies, simulating them and deploying autonomous agents into user-owned Safe wallets with scoped permissions.
What is the Decentralised News Almanak invite link?
Use https://app.almanak.co/invite?code=m7cTQJW5. Invite code: m7cTQJW5.
What does the referral give?
Current plan documentation says qualifying inviter and invitee accounts can each receive one month of Pro after the invitee completes the first paid billing period, subject to program conditions.
Is Almanak non-custodial?
Yes. Current docs say user funds remain in a user-owned 1-of-1 Safe while deployment EOAs operate only within permissions granted through Zodiac Roles.
Can Almanak create strategies from natural language?
Yes. Almanak Code can turn prompts or Edge signals into reviewable Python strategy code. Users remain responsible for reviewing code, parameters and permissions.
How many chains are supported in production?
The current generated production matrix lists Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Optimism, Polygon, BNB Smart Chain and Avalanche.
Does Almanak support Hyperliquid and Solana?
The current platform roadmap lists Hyperliquid and Solana as ongoing integrations. We do not count them as current production platform support.
Has Almanak been audited?
Yes. Zokyo's public library lists Almanak audits dated May 6 and September 26, 2025. Audit coverage does not certify user-generated strategies or every future release.
Is Almanak safe?
No autonomous trading platform is risk-free. Generated code, strategy logic, permissions, smart contracts, protocols, oracles, liquidity and model outputs can all fail.
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