DeFi is still more like a failed experiment, 80% of DeFi projects are unreliable, they have weak security and they are more hack friendly, they claim to be decentralized but instead they aren't showing any decentralized motives, the only DeFi projects I trust are not up to five and I choose those DeFi projects because they are more than just DeFi like many new DeFi projects so far, I don't care much about where DeFi is headed, I'm just going to keep picking the good eggs out from the bad eggs, hopeful in future DeFi projects will actually become fully decentralized and more secured
I look at the charts of new cheap coins from new projects and I would not say that Defi is something unfortunate. A few days ago, one project generated nearly 14,000% growth. Many give 100-300%. The one who follows and catches the hype earns
Thee is a possibility for real earnings like that in a price Spike, and this is different than a Ponzi.
If you are an early adopter, either in an ICO where you buy Coins or Tokens from whoever, or if you are getting them by mining, or however, if only 5 people are using it, you cant expect the value to be high. Maybe 2 guys are newer and they go on the market, and they Buy cheap coins from the other guys. Even required for PoS, as they need to Stake.
If 500 new users come in, and the Price goes from $0.001 each to $0.50 each, that could just be Supply and Demand, not necessarily anything wrong.
Ponzis
The ones that are Ponzis are about investing for an ROI that somehow pumps out to you, in Tokens, or however, but that 2nd kind, the Ponzi, is just Inflationary, not ROI. They are recording Inflation and calling it ROI.