2022 was not a great year for decentralized finance (DeFi). The industry saw implosion in itself thanks to the unsustainable high yields that eventually caused the model to collapse. But DeFi is far from dead.

A similar sentiment was echoed by prominent Web3 developer Andre Cronje, who said he does not believe that high yields are “long gone” and that DeFi is seeing almost “zero growth.”

At present, the real yields for ETH, USDT, DAI, and USDC are relatively higher than in 2020, even amidst a rather inactive market following a brutal year. Typically, real yields offered by DeFi protocols are from the lending market and trading fees. Investors who resorted to shorting had offloaded their tokens. But according to Cronje, this cohort of market players isn’t confident enough yet to close their positions, which would be the “real yield low point.”

The space is currently stuck in a low volatility phase of a prolonged bear market. Hence, Cronje stated that he does not believe the period of high yields is “long gone” since it is similar to comparing “the current market with an unsustainable and highly delusional market peak” instead of its progression.