Ground COO Stephanie Vaughan argued that DeFi is drifting into a “yield war” centered on access to fintech distribution rather than solving end-user problems. In her view, companies such as Robinhood, Coinbase, Revolut, and Kraken are competing for customer funds, while protocols including Aave, Morpho, and Ethena are trying to become the infrastructure layer for lending strategies. Vault providers and risk management firms, she said, are also competing around fintech platforms rather than building direct user relationships for DeFi itself.
Vaughan said this setup sends a clear market signal: pricing power for DeFi products is nearing zero. She argued that much of the yield on offer comes from subsidies provided by platforms, vault services, strategy providers, or underlying protocols, instead of real demand created by the product itself. She described that dynamic as closer to paying “shelf fees” than gaining genuine distribution.
She also pointed to weaknesses in some multi-strategy vaults, including idle capital, waiting periods before deployment, and slow governance processes, which can leave actual user returns below advertised APY. By contrast, she said, traditional financial products such as money market funds can put capital to work immediately. As L2 costs fall and cross-chain infrastructure matures, Vaughan said the chain itself is no longer the main competitive edge, and future DeFi products should be built around user needs and move toward infrastructure such as MPC wallets that let users keep control over strategy while platforms handle execution and simplification.
Ground COO Stephanie Vaughan said DeFi is falling into a “yield war,” with market participants paying more attention to securing distribution through fintech platforms than to solving real user needs.
She said Robinhood, Coinbase, Revolut, and Kraken are competing for user funds, while protocols such as Aave, Morpho, and Ethena are racing to become the infrastructure layer for lending strategies. Vault service providers and risk management firms, she added, are also competing around fintech platforms.
In Vaughan’s view, that model does not create DeFi’s own user relationships. Instead, it turns the competition into a contest over being selected by platforms. She said the market is sending a message that pricing power for DeFi products is close to zero.
According to Vaughan, much of the yield being offered comes from subsidies supplied by platforms, vault providers, strategy providers, or underlying protocols, rather than from real demand created by the product itself. She said this looks more like paying “shelf fees” than gaining true distribution.
She also said some multi-strategy vaults suffer from idle capital, waiting periods before deployment, and slow governance processes. As a result, the return users actually receive can differ from the advertised APY. By comparison, Vaughan said traditional financial products such as money market funds can put capital to work immediately.
She added that as L2 costs fall and cross-chain infrastructure matures, the chain itself is no longer the core competitive advantage. In her view, the next stage for DeFi should start from user needs and build products closer to a personal execution environment.
Vaughan said the focus of future competition should shift from shared vaults to infrastructure such as MPC wallets, allowing users to retain control over strategy while platforms handle execution and simplify the process.
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