DeFi will soon pump harder than in DeFi summer: dYdX Foundation CEO

The crypto industry could see a “DeFi festival” begin as soon as September, leading to a decentralized finance boom that lasts for “months and months,” says the CEO of the dYdX Foundation, an independent decentralized finance (DeFi) nonprofit.

Speaking to Cointelegraph at Consensus 2025 in Hong Kong, Charles d’Haussy said the term DeFi summer doesn’t adequately describe the uptick he thinks is on the horizon; instead, he feels “DeFi festival” would be a more accurate term because it will keep growing.

“DeFi summer, in people’s minds, is like three months of crazy parties. I think this short period is behind us. I think it will be a very long party for months and months.”

DeFi summer started in 2020 when the market saw a surge in adoption, and total value locked (TVL) spiked to $15 billion before cooling off in 2022 when the bear market hit, according to Steno Research. 

A “DeFi festival,” according to d’Haussy, will have more entry points for people to enter DeFi, and the OGs in the space will “shine big” because they are established and trusted brands that newcomers will flock toward. 

“All these projects you thought had been eaten by someone else are still there. They’re trusted brands and will grow even stronger because people will not systematically jump on the new things,” d’Haussy said.

D’Haussy is also predicting more institutional engagement and money coming to DeFi, with the market maturing and infrastructure being set up by key players in the space. 

“You’ve got signals the big DeFi players are getting ready for accommodating institutional players; look at the latest release from Lido.”

Lido Finance, the largest liquid staking protocol, in August launched Lido Institutional, an institutional-grade liquidity staking solution aimed at large customers such as custodians, asset managers and exchanges. 

Centralized exchanges (CEX) could also help bring more users to DeFi, according to d’Haussy, because some have launched blockchains and wallets or closed services such as lending and futures to satisfy licensing requirements, sending users of those services to DeFi.

Related: History of Crypto: DeFi revolution during a global crisis

“The bridge we needed for CeFi users to go to DeFi is being designed by the CeFi champions, and they are pushing their users, not out, but facilitating the access to DeFi and making the experience smoother,” he said. 

“They want to keep their users around their business, so we see more and more CeFi users being invited to go into DeFi.” 

However, before the DeFi festival can begin, d’Haussy says the world needs to settle down and macro conditions ease. 

“I think we will have a choppy summer and possibly a mini-crisis, but I’m confident the crypto market will be back on track by September,” he said. 

Magazine: Coinbase and Base: Is crypto just becoming traditional finance 2.0?

Additional reporting by Ciaran Lyons.