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
You should take a closer look at such decentralized exchanges as pancake swap, uniswap, 1inch and the like. They have been successfully operating for a long time and are gaining momentum in popularity and demand.