Over the past five years, decentralized finance (DeFi) has rapidly expanded thanks to its "permissionless and disintermediation" narrative, becoming one of the most representative innovations in the Web3 space. However, the gap between user experience and the vision of inclusive finance has remained difficult to bridge: high-barrier technical semantics, fragmented experiences caused by multi-chain operations, and the volatility of gas fees are all constantly raising the industry's entry barriers. This structural mismatch between "idea and reality" means that while DeFi improves system efficiency, it inevitably brings new barriers and challenges. DeFAI emerged to address this gap. It is not simply a combination of "DeFi + AI" technologies, but rather an attempt to reconstruct highly specialized on-chain operations into an intent-driven service interface through natural language interaction, intelligent agent orchestration, and real-time data response. For example, users can express their operational intentions in natural language, and the AI agent can automatically complete complex tasks such as asset allocation, risk optimization, and cross-protocol collaboration based on real-time data, thus significantly simplifying the user experience. As of the first half of 2025, DeFAI has moved from proof-of-concept to initial large-scale application. For example, VIRTUAL supports the deployment and operation of over 100,000 AI intelligent agents; HeyAnon can complete cross-chain operations with a single sentence; Griffain: builds an AI agent network with self-computational logic for automated execution and intelligent management in strategic scenarios. Meanwhile, new technologies also bring new challenges. The interpretability, transparency, and accountability of AI decision-making have not yet reached a unified standard; the semantic ambiguity and manipulation boundary issues that may arise from natural language-driven approaches also need to be addressed; furthermore, the difficulty of coupling privacy protection, security, decentralized governance mechanisms, and regulatory compliance frameworks is becoming a key variable restricting its further development. The above content is excerpted from Web3Caff Research's "DeFAI Track 10,000-Word Research Report: Driven by 'Intent,' What Kind of Changes is Generative AI Bringing to DeFi Service Models? A Panoramic Analysis of Its Market Size, Technological Bottlenecks, Ecosystem Pattern, Risks and Challenges, and Development Path" Click to view the full version 👇