AC: DeFi no longer exists; only on-chain finance remains

The founder of the DeFi platform Flying Tulip and creator of the Fantom Network, Andre Cronje, stated that most DeFi protocols are no longer truly decentralized, with only a few niche areas still qualifying as DeFi. He believes that DeFi has evolved into "on-chain finance" or "open finance."

He pointed out that true DeFi should possess characteristics such as decentralization, immutability, and the absence of intermediaries, while the intermediaries in most current protocols have become companies, taking on the roles of decision-makers and risk committees typical of traditional financial institutions. Cronje stated that this does not mean that true DeFi no longer exists, as some protocols are still innovating.

Data from DefiLlama shows that the total value locked in DeFi has dropped from $167 billion at the beginning of October 2022 to $75 billion at the time of the original publication, a decline of more than half.

The European Central Bank (ECB) analyzed Aave, MakerDAO, Ampleforth, and Uniswap in a working paper released in March, finding that based on snapshots of holdings from November 2022 and May 2023, the top 100 addresses holding governance tokens in these protocols control over 80% of the token supply. The ECB thus questioned the degree of decentralization of the relevant DAOs and whether they should continue to be regarded as "fully decentralized" services not subject to the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). (Cointelegraph)