DeFi is going mainstream — AI agents, tokenized assets, and institutional demand are driving the next wave!

Crypto executives at Consensus Miami 2026 made a unified case: DeFi isn't fading, it's becoming financial infrastructure. eToro CEO Yoni Assia pointed to over $100 billion sitting in on-chain lending markets as proof the technology stack is already battle-tested at scale, while Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley — whose firm manages roughly $15 billion in assets — said regulated fintechs and neobanks are now actively requesting compliant DeFi-related products.

The sharpest forward-looking argument came from a16z Crypto's Guy Wuollet, who said autonomous AI agents will need financial rails that look "either literally DeFi or a lot like DeFi." Assia backed that up with live experiments: AI agents independently opening wallets, bridging assets, and executing trades across DeFi protocols and prediction markets. "DeFi and AI are both native to each other," he said.

The panel acknowledged the…