The number of DeFi applications generating at least $1 million in monthly fees fell from around 33-34 in the second half of 2025 to approximately 25-26 in the first half of 2026, while those generating more than $10 million in monthly fees roughly halved over the same period. Onchain activity has shifted toward new segments like Hyperliquid, Polymarket, and pump.fun, pulling economic fees away from classic DeFi despite sustained total onchain volume. A total of 101 crypto projects have died in 2026 alone, according to RootData, as surviving projects now compete with thousands of protocols for the same users. Institutional capital favors platforms with established track records over protocols offering token incentives, as evidenced by Morpho’s $175 million raise in June for institutional lending onchain and Alpaca’s $135 million raise in July for agentic DeFi.
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