Decentralized Finance — financial services built as smart contracts on public blockchains. The major categories are lending (Aave, Compound), DEXes (Uniswap, Curve), derivatives (dYdX, GMX), and yield (Yearn, Pendle). Total Value Locked across DeFi is roughly $80B in 2026, down from $180B at the 2021 peak. DeFi is composable — protocols build on each other — which creates innovation and contagion risk in equal measure.
DeFi
Decentralized Finance — financial services built as smart contracts on public blockchains. The major categories are lending (Aave, Compound), DEXes (Uniswap, Curve), derivatives (dYdX, GMX), and yield (Yearn, Pendle). Total Value Locked across DeFi is roughly $80B in 2026, down from $180B at the 2021 peak. DeFi is composable — protocols build on each other — which creates innovation and contagion risk in equal measure.
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