While I think that rewarding DeFi participants is important, I also would say that one thing that makes governance great is the fact that it is absolutely risk free. I would never trust all my Algos to be committed in DeFi as every DeFi project is still in its infancy and exploits could happen. Nor should a blockchain that wants to be decentralized makes its user having to trust a third party in order to participate - a point that Silvio makes every time he speaks publicly. What I think is a better solution is NOT a reward for DeFi users, but making harder requirements to participate in Governance or decrease rewards - or both.
What I’ve been thinking lately is that with the addition of xGov it could be implemented a system with 2 separate reward pools. 1 lesser pool for Governors who only have to vote and who have the same requirements as of right now, and 1 pooll with xGov. For xGov the only requirements would be to run a node - either a participation, an archive or a relay node. This way nearly everyone who wants to commit to the protocol could set up a node, and node runners would be rewarded. I also would strongly advise the Foundation to develop installers to make it easier for everyone to get a node up and running. That way everyone gains - the users who are involved get better rewards, the network grows more decentralized, the individuals who like the low effort - high security rewards still get some.
I don’t think that rewarding DeFi users is the Foundation job - this has already be done with the Aeneas programm. At the end of the day DeFi projects must find a way to entice users, and the only thing that the Foundation can do to help is making it a little less enticing to simply commit to governance, while still rewarding users who actively help the network grow.