Opinion: Robin Nordnes, Raiku Co-Founder and CEO
Many decentralized finance (DeFi) enthusiasts assume that future institutional adoption will be driven by shiny ultra-high yields. In reality, the mainstream will be most impressed by consistency and reliability.
DeFi has opened the door for the general public to access financial tools that were previously reserved for institutions. For the first time, anyone can invest money in the public markets from anywhere in the world. That was a big step forward. The same openness that made this possible came with trade-offs. Decentralization has brought us freedom, but it has also sometimes meant unpredictability.
Now is the time to close that gap. The next chapter of DeFi will be about building systems that are as consistent as the apps we use every day. When cryptocurrencies become as reliable as Web2, the entire industry will move on-chain. This is what you actually need if you want to onboard the next billion users.
illusion of yield
DeFi has always grown with an emphasis on yield. That was the hook that brought in millions of dollars. The idea of gaining wealth while you sleep was powerful, and it worked. However, yield only matters if the underlying fundamentals are stable. If the execution is unpredictable, the numbers on the screen are just an illusion.
Retail investors may ignore it, but that’s not the world we’re entering. Institutions, funds and companies value precision and don’t build on shaky foundations. The final piece of the puzzle is creating crypto apps that are as consistent and predictable as the Web2 apps we trust and use every day.
In 2020, it was predicted that mass adoption of DeFi would occur between 2023 and 2025.
Now that 2025 is almost over, it is clear that we are only slightly closer to this goal than we were then. As cryptocurrencies gradually grow in importance in the broader financial sector, we need to be properly aware of the risks that financial institutions are wary of.
Related: Brazilian stablecoin opens door to double-digit yields in country
Yes, DeFi is growing and yields are capturing the attention of everyday investors. Financial institutions cannot be expected to participate by promising a 5% yield with the risk of system collapse.
As decentralized markets evolve and move toward institutional-grade systems, trust, predictability, and determinism will be what defines the next wave of DeFi.
What is holding DeFi back?
Let’s take a look at Solana. Right now, it’s already fast, consistent, and continually improving. Most users no longer see the problem. However, when you start operating at the scale of an institution running automated clearing strategies or processing thousands of transactions per minute, “almost” is not enough. For hedge funds and exchanges, one failed trade can interrupt reporting for an entire day and result in millions of dollars at risk.
Retail users already trust Solana. The next most important thing is educational institutions. They need certainty. You should know that when you press “Run” it will run instantly as you intended.
Reliability is the new alpha
Trust is what turns cryptocurrencies from an experiment to an economy, and without it institutions will find it unattractive. Of course, institutional investors care about 5%, 10%, or even 20% APY, but they care even more about 100% reliability.
Funds, exchanges and banks can manage billions of assets and must respond to customers, governments and the global financial community when something goes wrong. Why risk your reputation on a system that has proven to be fallible? Institutions considering DeFi rails need accuracy, execution guarantees, and predictable latency. Speculative profits are less important when you are trying to bring a significant portion of the world’s GDP on-chain.
Moving towards determinism
More than speed, you need certainty. Deterministic execution means knowing exactly when a transaction will be processed and what will happen once the transaction is complete. This levels the playing field and gives everyone from traders to institutional investors the same kind of trust they already expect from traditional systems.
What is missing from large-scale DeFi adoption is not speculative incentives for hopeful bagholders, but rather credibility to hold up under stress. When networks can guarantee inclusivity and accuracy, and validators are rewarded for uptime rather than speculation,
DeFi stops being gambling and starts becoming infrastructure.
From yield war to infrastructure war
DeFi has undergone cyclical changes. First came yield farming, then scaling, then protocol-owned liquidity, and now real-world assets. Each wave brought innovation and capital. None of these completely open the door to educational institutions. That will happen in the next cycle.
The new era of DeFi is less about chasing APY and more about who can deliver predictable results at the speed of the internet. The winners will be those who make DeFi feel boring in the best possible way: stability, speed, and accuracy.
Opinion: Robin Nordnes, co-founder and CEO of Raiku.
This article is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be, and should not be taken as, legal or investment advice. The views, ideas, and opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.