What can DeFAI do for crypto and DeFi?

More than a buzzword, DeFAI is a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and decentralised finance (DeFi) and could herald Web3’s next frontier, merging AI’s analytical prowess with blockchain’s trust less infrastructure to tackle fragmentation, opaque transactions and volatile decision-making. Projects leverage AI to parse cross-chain data, predict market shifts and automate execution - potentially democratising DeFi and neutralising exploitative practices such as maximal value extraction (MEV). Yet the DEFAI sector has fallen by over 80%, from $7billion to $1.4billion and faces existential tensions: reliance on centralised AI models, regulatory ambiguity and ethical risks of autonomous systems. And, as technical and governance challenges mount, DeFAI’s defining struggle lies not only in innovation but in balancing decentralisation against AI’s centralised underpinnings. So, will it forge an open, intelligent financial future - onboarding the next generation of Web3 users - or wi…