# Risk Maple is a technology services provider. Use of the Maple Protocol involves risks, including but not limited to Smart Contract Risk, Default Risk, and Risk of Loss. **Admin Controls** The Maple DAO has administrative controls over certain aspects of the protocol. The upgradeability mechanism allows for the Maple DAO to specify new versions of smart contracts that have been approved for use. These upgrades can only be performed by the relevant actor. This ensures two things, one that the DAO cannot behave directly maliciously and that the Borrower cannot upgrade to a malicious version of the smart contract. They can only perform upgrades to contracts that have been approved by the Maple DAO. In addition, the Maple DAO has the ability to introduce timelock requirements to sensitive functions, such as setting new withdrawal cooldown parameters. This ensures that Maple cannot maliciously change the withdrawal cooldown parameters to an undesirably high value, which would allow them to hold LPs' funds for a longer period of time. **Smart Contract Risk** Smart contracts increase their risk profile with the amount of value they hold. The Maple team takes this threat very seriously and has audited the protocol code both internally and externally. All of Maple's audits can be found [here](/technical-resources/security/security.md). **Default Risk** Maple is not a lender, but the Maple Protocol facilitates overcollateralized lending, and its own rigorous underwriting system, in order to reduce defaults. If a borrower defaults, collateral assets are liquidated to protect lender principal. **Risk of Loss** Holding, lending, or borrowing digital assets involves a substantial degree of risk, including the risk of complete loss of those assets. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.maple.finance/maple-institutional-for-lenders/risk.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.