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 would probably not go as far as to call it a failed project. Some DeFi, which can be regarded as trustworthy and secure, are really doing most of the legwork in the DeFi crypto world. Definitely there are also a lot of scam DeFi, but only due to how easy it is to build DeFi on smart contracts. But you can always tell who the serious DeFi providers are. DeFi, just like altcoins have had a bad start, but then again, which new tech can be called perfect?