# What is Decentralized Finance (DeFi)?

By [the_warldx](https://paragraph.com/@the-warldx) · 2024-01-14

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What is DeFi? The advent of public blockchain networks like Ethereum have enabled peer-to-peer transactions of value to be executed programmatically based on a set of conditions through “smart contracts”, which are simply pieces of code that are deployed and executed on the blockchain. Applications built with smart contracts are colloquially called decentralized applications, or ‘dapps’ for short, and have been a major catalyst for the increasing exploration of cryptocurrency, or digital currency, for its use in industry. In practice, DeFi services are dapps that leverage the power of smart contracts and the decentralized nature of public blockchains in order to provide globally accessible financial services such as: Lending & Borrowing Spot Trading Asset Exchange & Swap Savings & Yield Products Stablecoins (Fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies) Insurance Prediction Markets Arbitrage

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*Originally published on [the_warldx](https://paragraph.com/@the-warldx/what-is-decentralized-finance-defi)*