DeFi won't win over big banks until it fixes its hacking problem, executives say

Executives at a Paris conference warned that persistent onchain security failures are the main barrier to institutional adoption of DeFi, keeping capital on the sidelines. While banks see value in using blockchain for back-office tokenization and settlement, hacks — including April’s near-daily breaches — erode trust. Societe Generale said it is addressing the cash-settlement gap by issuing regulated stablecoins (EURCV, USDCV) and tokenizing assets, arguing custodial bank solutions will be preferred by mainstream clients. Market impact: institutional inflows into ETH and broader DeFi will likely remain constrained until bridges and protocol security improve, favoring bank-led tokenization and custody solutions over noncustodial DeFi products.