Ethereum (ETH)

ETHCC 2026 recap: DeFi on an employment crisis

great weather, great events, great vibes, but the landscape is shrinking and money is drying out

going straight from NYC DAS to ETHCC, it is clear to me that DeFi is living an identity crisis on multiple fronts

gone are the protocols run events where all their users go to feast at the expense of the treasury - in are the multi-hosted gatherings where most builders go all together but where you also meet the same people

villas hosted by the few protocols that fundraised in 2025 and are still growing or soon to launch were the highlight of this year. the meta was less beach-front venues, more curated and researched places

you look around for your friends that came last year, and notice always the same faces from the last ethcc - while some of the usual faces are gone and not seen any longer.
events are curated but you can see they net is cast much larger because you can’t fill a space being hyper selective.
places this year are smaller and the hyped events

DEX volumes are now 25% of CEX volumes according to @the_defi_report.

That's up from 5% in 22.

Importantly: DEX still gaining during bear market.

Bullish DeFi. https://t.co/KSfLVDkhYQ