2026-01-16 10:22:40

The early profit logic in DeFi was simple and brutal—high APY + rapid volatility + boldness and caution = huge profits. Back then, the game was all about speed and guts; whoever reacted faster could seize the opportunity. But now, the situation is changing.

As the scale of funds grows and more participants join, relying on luck and emotion is starting to fail. The market is learning a lesson: quick money is not a skill; risk management is.

Once the financial structure changes, participant behavior inevitably shifts. Environments with floating yields and no fixed deadlines naturally attract emotional and short-term speculators; but what if the system becomes fixed income with clear deadlines? It naturally filters out another type of participant—those willing to think, calculate, and weigh options.

The key turning point is here: when risks are clearly priced and time is defined as an explicit variable, users no longer guess "up or down" based on feelings. They start asking themselves: within this timeframe, which part of the risk curve am I willing to bear? From reactive operations, it truly becomes strategic decision-making.

This transformation will directly reshape the landscape of DeFi participants. The advantage of high-frequency speculators diminishes, while strategic players, capital managers, and long-term allocators gain influence. The source of profits is no longer about being first but about truly understanding risk and cycles.

Looking deeper, this will also reshape the competitive direction among protocols. When users start caring about risk management, protocols can no longer rely solely on capturing liquidity—they must outperform others by providing more stable and composable infrastructure. Structural protocols that excel at foundational functions will gradually become the underlying tools for other strategies.

Historically, every maturation of the financial system has been accompanied by such a shift—from "chasing quick money" to "managing risk." This is not a decline in excitement; it’s a shift in focus. Projects that truly work often no longer become the spotlight but quietly carry increasing capital and strategies.

DeFi is at this turning point. It’s not decline; it’s evolution.

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MoonBoi42

· 8h ago

The early group that ate meat by reacting quickly was really exciting. Now? You have to think, and honestly, it's not fun anymore. --- Basically, the advantage of retail investors is gone. When institutions come in, we can only follow and share the benefits. --- Risk pricing sounds professional, but in reality, it's still about who has more capital to win. --- Fixed income? What's the difference from traditional finance? What's the point? --- The underlying protocol has become just a tool, haha. The once-favored projects are gradually being ignored. --- This shift is indeed happening, but honestly, no one can forget the thrill of high APY quick money... --- Strategic choices sound good, but isn't everyone in the crypto world gambling with a gambler's mentality?

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EthSandwichHero

· 8h ago

That's correct. The early logic of relying on luck and reaction speed to make a living is indeed outdated. Those still chasing high APY are mostly taking over for big players. The real profit-makers have already shifted to risk pricing and cycle analysis.

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FomoAnxiety

· 8h ago

You're absolutely right. It's long overdue for a shake-up. The group that got rich overnight relying on luck should have been gone long ago. Now it's really about brains, not just reaction speed. --- Haha, this is what they call the "from gambler to investor" process, right? --- The fixed income approach definitely pushes out speculators, but I'm worried that by then the APY will also drop to the point of no interest. --- Everyone understands it, but the key is how many people are truly willing to think. I still see a bunch of gamblers in suits. --- So the underlying protocol is the real big player? But it still depends on who can survive until that day. --- This logic sounds comfortable, but the question is when will the market truly stop chasing high APY? That's not how reality works. --- Evolution? Sounds like an excuse for the market's decline, haha. --- Makes sense. Every time there's maturity in history, there's pain. Will too many projects die this time?

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DeFi_Dad_Jokes

· 8h ago

The early methods are indeed outdated. Relying on intuition for trading is basically a hallmark of new retail investors. Well said, speculators deserve to be eliminated; this is natural selection. Risk pricing is truly the watershed for DeFi's maturity. It's exactly the same as the growth process in the stock market, only blockchain has compressed this cycle. Speaking of which, most people still haven't figured out their risk tolerance and are still gambling. Infrastructure is the ultimate winner, and there's nothing wrong with this view.

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SmartMoneyWallet

· 8h ago

To put it nicely, in plain terms, it's about changing the rules after large funds enter the market. Retail investors who relied on quick reactions in the early days no longer have a chance, replaced by institutions with a fixed income and clear deadlines—just hearing these words makes it obvious who they are tailored for. On-chain data has long made this clear: whale holdings have already been accumulated in the underlying protocols.

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