DeFi

Financial services — lending, trading, derivatives — built from smart contracts rather than intermediaries, with users retaining custody of their assets.

Also called decentralised finance · decentralized finance

Financial services — lending, trading, derivatives — built from smart contracts rather than intermediaries, with users retaining custody of their assets.

Why it matters

Removing the intermediary also removes its protections: there is usually no deposit insurance, no reversal and no complaints process.

Related terms

Keep reading

Bitcoin The first cryptocurrency, launched in 2009, running on a proof-of-work blockchain with a supply… Whale A holder large enough that their transactions can move a market on their own. Blockchain A shared record of transactions maintained by many independent computers, where each block of… Self-Custody Holding your own keys rather than leaving assets with an exchange or custodian. Node A computer that keeps a copy of a blockchain and checks new transactions against… Wallet Software or hardware that stores the private keys controlling crypto assets. Hot wallets are…