Today’s DeFi doesn’t always live up to the original vision.

• Privacy is costly → using mixers or ZK tech often means higher fees and extra steps.
  
  
• UX is clunky → most privacy or decentralized options feel harder to use.
  
  
• Regulation pressures builders → to stay compliant, teams add shortcuts like KYC, custodians, or admin keys.
  
  

These shortcuts may seem practical in the short term but they erode the very values Ethereum was built on. They make protocols look more like banks on-chain than cypherpunk tools for financial freedom