Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

The acronym DeFi stands for “Decentralized Finance” and describes new forms of financial protocols that are based on smart contracts and do not require a central intermediary. In contrast, in traditional financial markets, central instances such as banks are indispensable for financial transactions and services.

Recently, many new DeFi projects such as decentralized exchanges, stablecoins or peer-to-peer lending services have emerged in the crypto sector, mostly based on the Ethereum blockchain.

See also: Vitalik Buterin, Decentralized Exchange (DEX).