'DeFi is not dead,' it’s going mainstream with AI agents, crypto executives agree

DeFi and its underlying technology have already proved themselves at scale, said eToro CEO Yoni Assia. What to know : Crypto executives at Consensus Miami 2026 said DeFi is not dying but instead moving into the financial mainstream, even as the sector faces scrutiny after recent high-profile hacks. Panelists argued that DeFi’s lending protocols and smart contracts are already operating at scale and will underpin tokenized real-world assets such as stocks and real estate. The speakers said autonomous AI agents will need DeFi-like financial rails and predicted that institutions will increasingly adopt on-chain infrastructure for efficiency and compliant DeFi-related products.