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DeFi

American

[dee-fahy] / ˈdiˌfaɪ /

noun

decentralized finance: financial services, functions, or applications that rely on a blockchain and are typically unregulated by any financial institution.

Etymology

Origin of DeFi

First recorded in 2015–20

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Decentralized finance, known as DeFi, is an umbrella term for financial services offered on public blockchains.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026

While digital credit does exist in the form of lending from DeFi firms, institutional leverage hasn’t made its way into using bitcoin as a vehicle for lending.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

This does not reflect traditional consumer borrowing, but rather crypto holders using digital assets as collateral as DeFi credit markets grow in size and activity.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 6, 2026

The reason is straightforward: DeFi makes tracing flows far more difficult External link, even as they preserve users’ access to dollar-linked instruments, such as Tether.

From Barron's • Feb. 5, 2026

In recent years, however, there has been a steady migration of crypto activity to DeFi.

From Barron's • Feb. 5, 2026

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023