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DeFi founder says decentralization needs more precise language
Andre Cronje argues many protocols operate with offchain infrastructure and paid teams, making “onchain finance” a closer fit than pure decentralization language.
Andre Cronje, founder and CEO of Flying Tulip, says decentralization was the original driver of DeFi, but it is no longer the complete operating model for most protocols. In a guest opinion for CryptoSlate, he argues the industry should update its language to be more precise about where decentralization exists, where operational responsibility sits, and what trust assumptions follow.
Cronje points to Yearn Finance as an example of the early ideal, describing a launch with no team allocation, no foundation, and no pre-mine, with the core protocol operating entirely onchain. He says that model would be difficult to sustain today because users now expect identifiable teams to maintain products, support operations, manage risk, and keep creating value.
He argues modern protocol needs go beyond smart contracts, including a reliable front end, support channels, offchain infrastructure, and automated keepers and liquidation bots that teams often run. Cronje also says protocols increasingly resemble operating companies, charging fees, employing teams, and maintaining systems over time, with tokens evaluated primarily as economic exposure rather than utility.
On contract design, Cronje recommends upgradeability for complex financial systems when governance and security are built around that choice. He says immutability can remain valuable for simple, bounded systems, but for systems that must adapt to changing markets, integrations, and threats, immutability can become a constraint, while upgradeability also increases the protocol’s threat surface if a single developer key can upgrade contracts unilaterally.