DeFi Maturation: 2020 vs. 2025

If you were to close your eyes and summon the ghost of 2020, you would likely smell the digital equivalent of ozone and gunpowder. It was the era of the “DeFi Summer,” a period that felt less like a financial revolution and more like a high-stakes arcade game played in a fever dream. We were all alchemists then, trying to turn food tokens Yam, Sushi, Pickle, into gold. The air was thick with $1,000\%$ APY promises, Discord servers that never slept, and the constant, thrumming anxiety that a rug-pull was just one smart contract interaction away source: https://beincrypto.com/defi-evolution-2020-to-2025/