Is DeFi genuinely decentralised anymore?

Been thinking a lot about the 'decentralised' aspect of DeFi lately. It feels like the ecosystem is increasingly consolidating around a few large players, especially when it comes to liquid staking derivatives and even the infrastructure providers that many protocols rely on. We talk a lot about censorship resistance and permissionless access, but if the underlying layers become centralised through sheer economic gravitational pull, how much of that original ethos are we actually preserving? It's a critical question that I don't see discussed enough outside of niche corners.

Then there's the ongoing debate around regulatory capture. As more capital flows into the space, the incentive to comply, even pre-emptively, grows. This often means introducing KYC/AML layers or building in mechanisms that could be considered 'backdoors' for traditional finance. Are we just creating a parallel, slightly more agile version of the existing financial system, or is true, sovereign DeFi still attainable? I'm genuinely curious to hear if anyone feels this is an overblown concern, or if you're seeing different trends. Push back hard if you disagree.