Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, expressed disagreement with the widespread opinion that the DeFi market boom is similar to that one of ICOs in 2017. According to him, unlike ICO projects, DeFi protocols are already working.

Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss believes that comparing the growth of the decentralized finances sector with the initial coin offering (ICO) bubble of 2017 is incorrect.

“DeFi is not the same as the 2017 ICO craze. Back then, money was raised on shitcoin white papers written in coffee shops. DeFi is already live and working in the wild. Billions of dollars are at work earning positive yield. This isn’t hypothetical vaporware, this is real,” Winklevoss tweeted.

According to DeFiPulse, the total value of assets locked in DeFi protocols is worth more than $9 billion. Since the beginning of July 2020, the figure increased by 300%.

Due to the rapid growth, the DeFi market is often criticized and compared to the ICO hype of 2017, most of which were either fraudulent or deliberately created to fail.

In July 2020, when the volume of funds frozen in DeFi protocols exceeded $2 billion, Larry Cermak from The Block said that in the past two weeks he was approached by representatives of three venture capital funds from Europe, who asked him to suggest the right strategy for investing in DeFi projects.

“This is obviously highly anecdotal but in the last two weeks, I've been approached by three European VCs and asked to advise their DeFi investing strategy. This hasn't happened in more than two years,” wrote Cermak, alluding to the similarity of the growth of the DeFi market with the hype surrounding ICO projects in 2017.

“It might just be a coincidence but seems like generally traditional investors are starting to pay more attention when they anticipate good returns. Similar thing happened in 2017 with ICOs.”