Decentralized Finance: The New Frontier of FinTech
The decentralized Finance system has rapidly grown in recent years which challenges the current centralized banking system. The adoption of blockchain technology in the finance industry and the spread of decentralization have shaped a new world called Decentralized Finance (DeFi). This world is portrayed by the accessibility of global finance, low transaction price, and secured transactions.
Decentralized Finance (Defi) has the potential to provide numerous benefits but it is also to understand the risk before you should get started.
What is Decentralized Finance?
Decentralized Finance or DeFi is a monetary system that is developed on a public blockchain. This can consist of smart contracts, protocols, digital assets, and dApps (decentralized applications). The blockchain and the distributed ledgers allow transactions between the two users. These transactions are recorded in the public ledger and allow the users to very their authenticity and ensure trust in the system.
How does Defi work?
Defi has provided the financial access system without the use of a central intermediary. The smart contract has enabled peer-to-peer interaction on the Ethereum blockchain. The financial system depends on the two major components to work efficiently. The first one is the infrastructure that needs to operate and the second thing is the currency that is needed to operate with.
Infrastructure: The decentralized program has been written on the Ethereum DeFi platform. Your smart contracts can be written through Ethereum which can define a set of conditions and requirements which met before the agreement is made. Once you deploy your smart contract it cannot be modified.
Currency: A coin that can be used to interact with the different protocols which are required to build a secured, and reliable decentralized financial system. Generally, The DAI stablecoin is used in the Defi for primary payments.
Note: Read more about our DeFi development services
Traditional Finance vs Decentralized Finance
Decentralized Finance has become more popular in the finance industry it is important to know how it should be varied from the traditional financial system.
- DeFi cannot be operated by any institutions or employees. They can be worked on based on algorithms or smart contracts. Once we deploy the smart contract it can be run without any intermediaries while traditional finance systems have the intermediaries like banks to run the financial operations.
- In DeFi anyone can audit the transactions which can provide trust among the users because everyone has the opportunity to understand the functionality of the smart contract. However, in traditional finance, the operations are managed by intermediaries and a security breach may occur.
- DApps can be created that act as global applications that can be accessed by the DeFi network. Whereas in the traditional system, the services can be offered by the operator which is restricted by the particular country. For example, you can open a bank account in a country where it can operate.
- Anyone can create a DeFi application and use it. Unlike traditional finance, no one is required to maintain the system and the users can directly interact with smart contracts from DeFi crypto wallets.
Benefits of Defi:
Traditional banking systems are administrative in nature and it is expensive to run. The process of transactions takes time because of their inflexible rules and regulations. DeFi came to settle a large number of issues in the traditional finance system. The key benefits of DeFi have been listed below:
Permission-less:
The key benefit of using the DeFi application is that it is permissionless. This means that anyone can access the DeFi application without getting approval from the central authority. It can allow everyone with an internet connection to participate in the DeFi ecosystem.
In addition, it is more secure than the centralized platform and it is not vulnerable to a single point of failure. The permissionless is the most selling point in DeFi for those who are looking to enter into the decentralized world.
Interoperability:
DeFi platforms are built on the public blockchain so it can allow users to easily transfer their assets across different blockchains without losing security. This can help users to access more liquidity, increase their access to financial services and make more efficient use of their funds.
It allows users to create complex financial instruments such as derivatives and stablecoins which can provide more financial opportunities. DeFi interoperability promotes users to build applications on existing protocols to create a large number of products and services.
Transparency:
Since DeFi was developed on a public blockchain so the transactions are available to the general population. Anyone can see the transactions and it is not directly attached to anyone just like the traditional banking system.
Finance control:
In traditional banking, financial institutions had control over how their users are spending their money. They can inflict what type of transactions users can make and also block their accounts if they find any strange activity.
However, DeFi provides more control to users over their own finances. For example, users can manage their own assets and they can decide which assets could be transacted. This allows them to conduct transactions without going for third-party applications and it makes it more secure that no one can steal their fund.
Innovation opportunity:
DeFi has provided valid possibilities to innovate and create multiple products and services. It can help us to develop another age of the financial system. It uses the Ethereum protocol and allows innovators to create new applications in the financial industry.
Application of DeFi in the real world:
Adoption of the DeFi platform and processes can transform everyone’s lives to unbanked in the real world. A few applications are discussed below:
Cost Reduction:
You need to be paid for the outrage cost transactions in the remittance market, where overseas employees send billions of dollars to their families. But DeFi has the potential to reduce the charges by over 50%. It helps to increase the employer’s productivity and also for the growth of economies.
Asset Financing:
The DeFi ecosystem has introduced an expensive network for integrating DeFi protocols and instruments from lending and borrowing platforms to stablecoins and tokenized BTC. The DeFi team has unlocked this barrier by implementing immutable smart contracts on Ethereum.
Supply Chain Management:
As mentioned before the term “DeFi” describes the transition away from conventional, centralized financial systems, and toward peer-to-peer financials made possible by the decentralized network built on the Ethereum blockchain.
This paradigm-shifting is already started by intersecting with the supply-chain industry, opening up a new range of opportunities for cutting inefficiency and creating new pathways for unreliable collaboration.
Challenges associated with DeFi:
Risk is attached to every high-return financial project, even DeFi also faced those threats.
Lack of Regulatory Oversight: As DeFi development services are relatively new, there is a lack of regulatory oversight in this industry. This can create risk for the users.
High Initial Cost: Setting up and running DeFi services is more expensive, especially for those who are newly started. It can be a barrier for those who can take advantage of these services.
Final Thoughts:
The decentralized finance system has been used to prevent fraud and scams in the financial industry. DeFi has provided you with a complete transaction quickly and securely. If you want to develop your own DeFi platform choose the right DeFi development services company and analyze the complete projects that they have been working on DeFi.