Industry Landscape Launchpad | Fintech: DeFi

DeFi is a collective term for financial products and services that are accessible to anyone who can use Ethereum – anyone with an internet connection. With DeFi, the markets are always open and there are no centralized authorities who can block payments or deny you access to anything. Services that were previously slow and at risk of human error are automatic and safer now that they're handled by code that anyone can inspect and scrutinize.

DeFi is an open and global financial system built for the internet age – an alternative to a system that's opaque, tightly controlled, and held together by decades-old infrastructure and processes. It gives you control and visibility over your money. It gives you exposure to global markets and alternatives to your local currency or banking options. DeFi products open up financial services to anyone with an internet connection and they're largely owned and maintained by their users. So far tens of billions of dollars worth of crypto has flowed through DeFi applications and it's growing every day.

One of the best ways to see the potential of DeFi is to understand the problems that exist today.

Some people aren't granted access to set up a bank account or use financial services.
Lack of access to financial services can prevent people from being employable.
Financial services can block you from getting paid.
A hidden charge of financial services is your personal data.
Governments and centralized institutions can close down markets at will.
Trading hours often limited to business hours of specific time zone.
Money transfers can take days due to internal human processes.
There's a premium to financial services because intermediary institutions need their cut.

Click on the link above to see a comparison table between DeFi and traditional finance.

There's a decentralized alternative to most financial services. But Ethereum also creates opportunities for creating financial products that are completely new. This is an ever-growing list.

Click on the link above to see a list of use cases.

In DeFi, a smart contract replaces the financial institution in the transaction. A smart contract is a type of Ethereum account that can hold funds and can send/refund them based on certain conditions. No one can alter that smart contract when it's live – it will always run as programmed.

Click the link above to find out more.