Maple Finance CEO: DeFi Will No Longer Be a Separate Market Segment
Date: 2025-12-22 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: BLOCKCHAIN
Maple Finance CEO Sid Powell stated that decentralized finance as we know it is coming to an end. He believes DeFi is ceasing to be a separate niche and is gradually merging into the broader global capital market ecosystem. Blockchain, he believes, is becoming the fundamental technology upon which the entire financial system of the future will be built.
In an interview with CoinDesk, Powell emphasized that this is not a decline of on-chain finance, but rather its evolution. In a few years, he predicts, institutional market participants will no longer differentiate between DeFi and TradFi. All financial activity—from lending to settlements—will take place in a blockchain environment, and the distinctions between approaches will become meaningless.
Powell compared this process to the development of the internet. While the network was once perceived as a separate industry, it has become the underlying infrastructure for e-commerce, media, and communications. He believes blockchain will play a similar role in the global financial system. He expects debt capital segments, including private loans, mortgage products, and instruments backed by real assets, to actively transition to the on-chain format.
The CEO of Maple Finance placed particular emphasis on private lending on the blockchain. He sees this sector, rather than tokenized government bonds, as the primary driver of growth. Powell predicts that the total volume of on-chain financial markets could eventually approach $1 trillion. However, he doesn't rule out the possibility that the system will face significant challenges—at least one major default will inevitably stress test the new infrastructure.
Stablecoins were a separate topic in his assessments. According to Powell's estimates, the volume of transactions using them could reach $50 trillion by 2026, surpassing the largest payment networks. He attributes this growth to the active interest of small businesses and neobanks, which are seeking ways to reduce payment processing costs.
Economic feasibility, according to Powell, will be the key factor in the widespread adoption of on-chain solutions. The use of stablecoins allows merchants to significantly reduce acquiring fees and recoup several percent of their revenue. This, he believes, will encourage businesses to switch to blockchain payments and finally cement blockchain's status as the new financial backbone.
Thus, according to the head of Maple Finance, DeFi is not disappearing, but rather transforming—becoming not a separate market, but an integral part of the global financial system.
