As a London-based fintech analyst with a Cambridge degree and five years in quant trading, I’ve seen my fair share of crypto bubbles. But the 2025 institutional DeFi surge isn’t one. With SEC’s SAB 121 repeal and the GENIUS Act gaining momentum, real capital is flowing into chain-native finance. Spark, Maple Finance, and zk-powered credit systems aren’t just buzzwords — they’re reshaping the financial stack. This isn’t DeFi 2.0; it’s DeFi 3.0: compliant, scalable, and built for Wall Street. Let’s cut through the noise.