We’ve seen this before.

Late 2021 through year end-2022, DeFi TVL fell from $170B to $38B.
More than 70% disappeared in seven months.
Every major lending market was stacked on another. Collateral borrowed against collateral borrowed against collateral. Once one leg failed, the entire structure unwound.
This year’s drawdown sits closer to 39% over six months.
Still painful.
Structurally different.
The difference isn’t sentiment.
It’s where the risk lives.
What used to sit inside recursive lending loops is now distributed across stablecoins, RWAs and derivatives.
Three separate balance sheets.
Three separate risk surfaces.
A 70% collapse needs everything to fail together.
A 39% drawdown is what happens when correlation breaks before the market does.
Same asset class.
Same macro backdrop.
Different plumbing.
That’s the part people will probably forget before the next cycle.