In some ways, DeFi still feels like a solution in search of a problem. For most people, it doesn't serve a real-world use case yet. Which is why it's primarily used as a buzzword to peddle scam tokens and fleece the gullible at the moment. Conceptually, it's a fine idea, but I'm certain there's a long road ahead before people really need this technology. I wouldn't say it has "failed", just that it hasn't discovered its true purpose yet.
I agree with this, but I also want to add that I used to think the same of ICOs. The idea of crowdfunding a project by giving people an option to buy the tokens of a certain project that are meant to function on this platform is not a bad idea per se. And there've been ICOs promising exciting things like fighting counterfeit clothing, helping bees not to get infected with something by tracing the infected ones on a blockchain, playing mobile games and mining some coins this way and many others. But in the end most projects didn't make it, people lost billions of dollars to scammers, and we have a market full of worthless altcoins. DeFi sounds like the new ICO to me. The idea is not bad, but in reality it ends with big failures and exit scams.
Indeed. If everyone who was genuinely interested in DeFi were pooling their talent and resources into one unified project, it might have some credibility. But instead, everyone is out there just trying to exploit the situation for profit and it looks totally squalid and shameful. I suspect it's going to remain a filth pit until the next bandwagon departs.