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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.

See Examples For:

DeFi

The word “DeFiant” was a coy wink to this idea of decentralized currency, known as DeFi, the ostensible rationale for the new Trump–Witkoff platform.

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026

Like traditional banks, DeFi applications allow users to borrow, lend, earn interest, and trade.

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 problem isn’t crypto legislation per se, but how the bill handles decentralized finance, or DeFi.

From Barron's ● Feb. 5, 2026

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