Cronje Sounds Alarm: Most DeFi Protocols No Longer Decentralized

DeFi protocols have lost their decentralization, according to Andre Cronje, founder of DeFi platform Flying Tulip and creator of Fantom Network.

Cronje argued that true decentralized finance needs to be immutable, without an intermediary, and decentralized. However, he believes this is no longer the case for most DeFi protocols today.

He pointed out that total value locked (TVL) in DeFi has more than halved over the past 10 months, from $167 billion in early October 2025 to $75 billion at the time of writing. This decline in TVL suggests a loss of decentralization and trust in these protocols.

The European Central Bank has also questioned the decentralization of DAOs, finding that the top 100 governance token holders controlled more than 80% of the supply in each protocol.