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Short for decentralized finance, DeFi is an alternative financial industry that consists of applications for saving, lending, investing, trading, insurance and derivatives – all running on blockchain technology. Blockchain allows several organisations to keep a copy of a transaction history, ensuring that it is not controlled by a single, central source. This is significant because centralised systems and human gatekeepers can slow down and complicate transactions while giving users less direct control over their funds. DeFi is unique in that it extends blockchain’s use beyond simple asset transfer to more complicated financial applications. Borderless, permissionless and digitally-native, DeFi has given rise to a range of financial applications that are dramatically changing the way we do finance.
