Jeff Owens, co-founder of Haven1, says that decentralized finance (DeFi) will finally attract mainstream users in 2024, “with the help of innovations like RWA tokenization and the hype around a potential ether spot ETF approval.”
However, he also claims that wider adoption “will only happen once DeFi has solved its security issues, and projects targeting these solutions will be the winners of the current bull run.”
Jeff Owens, co-founder of Haven1, adds:
“As we head into 2024, decentralized finance (DeFi) is gearing up to onboard billions of dollars in assets that will finally propel it into the mainstream. The coming year will put DeFi on the radar of a new generation of users and attract swathes of new customers to this burgeoning space. But the DeFi pioneers have some work ahead of them to ensure that the ecosystem can handle this major transition.”
Owens also mentioned that we’ve already “seen this work taking place behind the scenes over the past two years.”
He added that the projects that “survived the 2022 crypto downturn are building solutions to improve the user experience and enhance efficiency.”
Owens also shared that “seeing exciting developments in cross-chain interoperability, cybersecurity, and digital identity which are set to remove many of the barriers to adoption. Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization is becoming one of the hottest new topics in the crypto space as the focus shifts to the integration of DeFi into traditional finance.”
He continued to note that “the hype around crypto spot ETF approvals will play an important role in attracting mainstream interest.”
Owens further noted that after a bitcoin spot ETF is approved, “an ether spot ETF is next in line.”
He added that “while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed the latter decision until May 2024, it’s only a matter of time until we finally see this first-of-a-kind investment product.”
According to Owens, this would help “to drive mainstream interest in DeFi and could even spur a flurry of ETF launches based on other leading cryptocurrencies.”
The Ethereum blockchain itself, which “remains the de facto home of DeFi, is also preparing to serve a new generation of users, with major updates in the pipeline in 2024. The upcoming EIP-4844 upgrade is set to be a game-changer, with JP Morgan predicting a significant increase in network activity as a result,” he added.
As noted in the update shared with CI:
“By introducing a new type of transaction, EIP-4844 will enhance data availability, which will, in turn, improve scalability and drastically reduce rollup fees. With further improvements planned throughout the year, Ethereum will be able to support the growing demand and user numbers.”
The update also mentioned:
“However, the road to the mainstream adoption of DeFi won’t be smooth because the space remains fraught with risks. A recent report from IntoTheBlock revealed that DeFi losses have amounted to $1 billion so far in 2023 – a significant fall compared to the previous year, but still almost 2% of total value locked (TVL). Fraud risk is one of the top concerns for DeFi users, especially novice entrants unfamiliar with the space. This is a problem we, as an industry, will need to solve to attract the next generation of users to DeFi.”
Those projects that can “help reduce the risk of losses to a minimum and reassure new users that their assets are secure will be the winners of the coming bull run, helping to onboard billions of dollars into DeFi and make it a legitimate asset class to rival anything available in traditional finance.”
Incubated by the team behind digital wealth platform Yield App, Haven1 is “an EVM-compatible Layer1 blockchain designed to offer a secure and trusted environment to drive the mass adoption of on-chain finance.”