Overall DeFI projects have had a great run over the last year. Thanks to https://defipulse.com/ we can get a nice picture (though some of the data there I found to not be correct)

Currently there is 2M ETH in these projects. That is a bit less than 2% of all the ETH in existence (107M).

18M DAI locked in various projects

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The new Hot Topic on the blockchain

It seems that DeFi is the new trend and hot topic. And to me it has the potential to become the next killer app outside of money and funding in the space.

However with only 500M invested at this point it is tiny tiny part of the space. (2% of ethereum does not qualify as killer app).

Growth is everything

However it is growing. For killer apps growth is everything. If you look at anything profound, like iPhone, Facebook, Internet it has to grows exponentially.

DeFi has some very distinct advantages over the regulated stock market. If these are real will be shown via its growth curve.

Open Finance

Anyone can built a financial product on top of ethereum. We have seen very interesting concepts and completely new financial product ideas.

But I am sure the real killer apps have not yet been found, if it has we will see it via its growth.

There will be winners and losers

Already we see some losers and winners.

Dharma is an example of such a protocol. It was the hot new kid on the block, but recently basically gave up and decided to built on top of compound. My guess is they understood that another protocol was simply better at executing their vision.

We see the market at work already.

Potential

One of the things I am really excited about is the tokenset protocol

Only 3 million USD is invested in this protocol. But it is growing and I see the potential to really benefit retail investors in a way that wall street cannot.

A set is like an ETF, but the difference is, anyone can create a trading rule/strategy that is being used and investors can decide which one to invest in.

A very simple and powerful thing. The core values of what a blockchain is are open applied here to the ability for anyone to create a financial product or invest in one. This is the exact type of layer that makes something like "non confiscatable transactions" a bit more tangible and real.

The other real rising star is compound. Insane growth and pretty decent amount of money is riding on this protocol

these are just examples

I am excited about DeFi bringing some very tangible products and value to traditional investors. So far we have seen the ability to save taxes and earn interest rates via lending application.

Now other services are popping up.

Every serious investor should look at this space, as new wealth is possible to be made and created.