Can DeFi Regain Its Role as a "Safe Haven" Amid Structural Friction?

The game of chess between the US and China has entered a new phase of substantive confrontation, with automotive tariffs suddenly increased to 125%. Such tariff wars are not new, but this "upgraded version" indeed made the capital market feel the typical "global resonance" pressure once again.

Stocks, commodities, and bond markets have all exhibited varying degrees of risk-avoiding movements. Meanwhile, the crypto market's performance was not as drastic. This led me to ponder a question:

Is DeFi regaining its role as a "safe haven" amid this structural friction?

I used to be reserved about this notion, but my thoughts are gradually changing. Here are some of my observations and reflections:

Tax "Relief" Emerges, Boosting DeFi's Certainty

In March, the US Senate passed a resolution very favorable to DeFi users:

Temporarily overturning the IRS requirement for on-chain protocols to report user transactions.

This is actually a significant signal. Although it cannot be fully interpreted as "tax exemption," it implies that the tax compliance pressure on on-chain interactions has been eased in the short term.

This opens a subtle but crucial window: users can rebuild confidence in on-chain asset allocation in an environment with less regulatory friction.

To me, it's akin to how international capital used offshore markets as a "low-friction channel" in the past; DeFi is likely taking on this role in its embryonic form.

Structural Returns, A More Worthwhile Logic at This Stage

The greater the market uncertainty, the more capital tends to seek "structurally certain" paths—even if the returns are not as high.

This is why staking products are regaining attention. You stake assets on the mainnet and earn rewards from the protocol layer, with clear logic, predictable paths, and relatively low volatility.

Especially in ecosystems like Avalanche, staking tokens (such as sAVAX) can continue to participate in other DeFi activities, such as lending or liquidity mining. This way, users retain staking returns without completely sacrificing liquidity.

This actually forms a more "structurally sound" on-chain logic:

Rewards come from the base protocol, risks are concentrated on the mainnet security and DeFi contract layer, with paths and expectations reusable and traceable.

When Compliance Expectations Are Unclear, On-Chain Transparency Becomes a Moat

How future taxes will be collected and regulated is unclear to everyone, but one thing is certain: complete on-chain records and structurally clear protocols will definitely have more long-term viability than those gray-area operations.

I've been particularly interested in BENQI recently, which is not exactly a blockbuster project, but its path is very standard:

Users stake AVAX → earn sAVAX → can be used again for collateral, lending, liquidity pools, the entire asset path is traceable, contract behavior is public, and is very friendly for future compliance.

This combination of "structure + transparency" is actually a moat in the current stage. You may not immediately gain super high returns from it, but you can gain stability over time.

Structural Combinations Are Shifting from Tool Patching to Asset Allocation Systems

In the past, many people used DeFi for "tool arbitrage," but today more and more people are building "asset structures."

For example:

You stake AVAX to earn sAVAX;

Use sAVAX as collateral to borrow stablecoins;

Stablecoins go to liquidity mining, or participate in on-chain RWA projects;

Finally, automate the compounding process.

The entire path is not complex, but behind it is no longer "speculative behavior," but an on-chain structural return model, which can even be compared to an "actively managed portfolio."

From this perspective, DeFi is gradually shedding the impression of "high risk and high volatility" and evolving into a more mature financial tool.

This Is a Phase Worth Seriously Building "On-Chain Structures"

My current attitude towards DeFi is:

It is not a period of windfall profits, but it may be the stage most worth building structures and accumulating positions before the next slow bull market starts.

If you believe macro uncertainty will continue;

If you do not want to place all assets in highly volatile tokens;

If you hope that future taxes, compliance, on-chain returns can gradually integrate into a systematic approach—

Then, building an on-chain "structural return portfolio" may be a move worth starting.

BENQI, sAVAX may not be the optimal solution, but their path and mechanism indeed have the characteristics of "explainable, composable, and iterable," which can become part of this structural experiment.

We don't know when the next cycle will come, but starting to build structures now is definitely not the wrong direction.

Can DeFi Regain Its Role as a "Safe Haven" Amid Structural Friction?

The game of chess between the US and China has entered a new phase of substantive confrontation, with automotive tariffs suddenly increased to 125%. Such tariff wars are not new, but this "upgraded version" indeed made the capital market feel the typical "global resonance" pressure once again.

Stocks, commodities, and bond markets have all exhibited varying degrees of risk-avoiding movements. Meanwhile, the crypto market's performance was not as drastic. This led me to ponder a question:

Is DeFi regaining its role as a "safe haven" amid this structural friction?

I used to be reserved about this notion, but my thoughts are gradually changing. Here are some of my observations and reflections:

Tax "Relief" Emerges, Boosting DeFi's Certainty

In March, the US Senate passed a resolution very favorable to DeFi users:

Temporarily overturning the IRS requirement for on-chain protocols to report user transactions.

This is actually a significant signal. Although it cannot be fully interpreted as "tax exemption," it implies that the tax compliance pressure on on-chain interactions has been eased in the short term.

This opens a subtle but crucial window: users can rebuild confidence in on-chain asset allocation in an environment with less regulatory friction.

To me, it's akin to how international capital used offshore markets as a "low-friction channel" in the past; DeFi is likely taking on this role in its embryonic form.

Structural Returns, A More Worthwhile Logic at This Stage

The greater the market uncertainty, the more capital tends to seek "structurally certain" paths—even if the returns are not as high.

This is why staking products are regaining attention. You stake assets on the mainnet and earn rewards from the protocol layer, with clear logic, predictable paths, and relatively low volatility.

Especially in ecosystems like Avalanche, staking tokens (such as sAVAX) can continue to participate in other DeFi activities, such as lending or liquidity mining. This way, users retain staking returns without completely sacrificing liquidity.

This actually forms a more "structurally sound" on-chain logic:

Rewards come from the base protocol, risks are concentrated on the mainnet security and DeFi contract layer, with paths and expectations reusable and traceable.

When Compliance Expectations Are Unclear, On-Chain Transparency Becomes a Moat

How future taxes will be collected and regulated is unclear to everyone, but one thing is certain: complete on-chain records and structurally clear protocols will definitely have more long-term viability than those gray-area operations.

I've been particularly interested in BENQI recently, which is not exactly a blockbuster project, but its path is very standard:

Users stake AVAX → earn sAVAX → can be used again for collateral, lending, liquidity pools, the entire asset path is traceable, contract behavior is public, and is very friendly for future compliance.

This combination of "structure + transparency" is actually a moat in the current stage. You may not immediately gain super high returns from it, but you can gain stability over time.

Structural Combinations Are Shifting from Tool Patching to Asset Allocation Systems

In the past, many people used DeFi for "tool arbitrage," but today more and more people are building "asset structures."

For example:

You stake AVAX to earn sAVAX;

Use sAVAX as collateral to borrow stablecoins;

Stablecoins go to liquidity mining, or participate in on-chain RWA projects;

Finally, automate the compounding process.

The entire path is not complex, but behind it is no longer "speculative behavior," but an on-chain structural return model, which can even be compared to an "actively managed portfolio."

From this perspective, DeFi is gradually shedding the impression of "high risk and high volatility" and evolving into a more mature financial tool.

This Is a Phase Worth Seriously Building "On-Chain Structures"

My current attitude towards DeFi is:

It is not a period of windfall profits, but it may be the stage most worth building structures and accumulating positions before the next slow bull market starts.

If you believe macro uncertainty will continue;

If you do not want to place all assets in highly volatile tokens;

If you hope that future taxes, compliance, on-chain returns can gradually integrate into a systematic approach—

Then, building an on-chain "structural return portfolio" may be a move worth starting.

BENQI, sAVAX may not be the optimal solution, but their path and mechanism indeed have the characteristics of "explainable, composable, and iterable," which can become part of this structural experiment.

We don't know when the next cycle will come, but starting to build structures now is definitely not the wrong direction.