" ," Merav Ozair, PhD. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is the Future A pretty bold statement to make, and a little surprising to see it posted in such a mainstream publication that has historically listed all of the tech giants and tread cautiously when it comes to crypto. It might just be a sign of the times, and it definitely feels like so much has been said about DeFi already that I thought it would be wise to go directly to the source and speak to some of the pros from around the world who work in the industry on a daily basis. I asked them just one question — how do you feel about DeFi today? Read on to discover their insights! 4 DeFi Pros I approached for their take on DeFi in 2023 1. “The current state of DeFi is characterized by increasing diversity, while facing challenges such as complexity and regulatory uncertainty in a prolonged Bear market, the potential benefits of decentralized finance are driving continued innovation and evolution in the DeFi ecosystem.” “I see that the continued adoption of real-world assets in DeFi has the potential to increase liquidity, accessibility, and transparency, but requires further solutions to address the challenge of trusted intermediaries and potential regulatory hurdles.” Rocco Strydom, Blockchain and Web3 Evangelist | NFT Today Magazine 2. "DeFi activity has seen a strong start to 2023﻿, which has been due in part to a broader market recovery. Other factors, such as the prospect of clearer regulation, the Shanghai upgrade on Ethereum, and trading volume on DEXs up 27% in January, have also made me quite optimistic in regards to Decentralized Finance this year. We continue to see innovation across the sector, from ﻿DeFi lending to the announcement by Circle of its' launch of Cross-Chain Transfer protocol, which will be a game-changer. Let's keep building and breakthrough." Yang Lan, Co-Founder | Fiat24 3. "2022 was the year centralised exchanges were exposed for what they are, TradFi 2.0. From 2023 onwards more users will navigate towards DeFi, in particular to non-custodial wallets and decentralised exchanges. They now understand the importance of self-custody, and DeFi developers are actively building suites of products to attract CEX users over. Such as on-chain order book decentralised exchanges; with features such as limit orders, perps and futures." Chris "Milky" Cravens , COO and Co-Founder |MGH Consulting. 4. "While DeFi today showcases countless cutting-edge technological achievements, its focus remains on crypto-natives and professionals, bringing little value to the masses. In 2023, I hope to see more innovations that will bring the power of DeFi to financial products more fitting to the non-professional masses, in turn creating better conditions for mass adoption. " Jan Zema , Digital Producer at Crypto Valley Association Image Credits: Flavio Coelho (opens in a new window) / Getty Images 2 More DeFi 2023 Quotes from Around the Web "We’re keeping a close eye on the sector’s relative activity, like trades, volumes and users, compared to centralized alternatives like exchanges. Despite the negative sentiment surrounding crypto today, we still believe activity will eventually return to the industry. However, in the aftermath of all of these dramatic centralized finance (CeFi) explosions, we think that the next time users decide to enter the space, they’re going to think twice about trusting a CeFi exchange or company and instead opt to use decentralized protocols." Michael Anderson, co-founder, Framework Ventures "What sets DeFi apart is that it’s more “robust, transparent, and scalable than CeFi. Events like this spotlight the trade-offs that users make when they choose centralized services over decentralized ones. It’s a harsh — and expensive — lesson, but it’s essential. That’s a long-term positive for DeFi." Ryan Rasmussen, Crypto Research Analyst at Bitwise Final Thoughts Crypto’s biggest challenge in 2023 will be to find stability, most likely attainable by an exploration of the middle ground between decentralization and regulatory systems. Coming off the back of the bankruptcies, frauds and wild stories of lending and trading in 2022 and early 2023, the pressure to build confidence in crypto prevails, but there is significant optimism in the industry among those living and breathing it on a daily basis.

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