Decentralised Finance (DeFi) History

Article by Steller7 - Published: 26/01/2023

Decentralised finance (DeFi) is a rapidly growing area of the cryptocurrency and blockchain space that involves the use of decentralised technology to create financial products and services that are accessible to everyone. The history of DeFi can be traced back to the early days of Bitcoin and other decentralized digital currencies, but it has only recently begun to gain mainstream attention.

The first decentralized financial application on the blockchain was Bitcoin itself, which was created in 2009 as a decentralised digital currency that could be sent and received without the need for a central intermediary. This concept of a decentralised, trustless system for transactions was ground-breaking, and it quickly spawned a number of other decentralized digital currencies, such as Litecoin and Ethereum.

Ethereum, in particular, has been instrumental in the development of DeFi. The Ethereum blockchain was launched in 2015, and it introduced the concept of smart contracts, which are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement directly written into code. This made it possible to create decentralized applications (dApps) that could run on the Ethereum blockchain, and many of these dApps have focused on creating decentralised financial products and services.

One of the most popular DeFi applications on the Ethereum blockchain is Uniswap, a decentralised exchange (DEX) that allows users to trade cryptocurrencies without the need for a central intermediary. Uniswap uses a system of smart contracts to match buyers and sellers, and it has become one of the most widely used DEXs in the DeFi space. Other popular DeFi applications on the Ethereum blockchain include MakerDAO, which is a decentralized lending platform, and Compound, which allows users to lend and borrow cryptocurrencies.

DeFi has also been gaining traction on other blockchain platforms, such as Binance Smart Chain and Polygon. These platforms have been designed to offer faster and cheaper transactions than Ethereum, making them more suitable for certain types of DeFi applications. For example, Binance Smart Chain has been used to create decentralised exchanges (DEXs) that can handle high-frequency trading, and Polygon has been used to create decentralized lending platforms.

The future of DeFi looks bright, as more and more developers and entrepreneurs are beginning to recognize the potential of decentralised financial products and services. There are many exciting developments on the horizon, such as the launch of the Ethereum 2.0, which will introduce a new proof-of-stake consensus mechanism that will make the Ethereum blockchain more scalable and efficient. This will enable more DeFi applications to be built on the Ethereum blockchain, and it will also make it easier for existing DeFi applications to handle more transactions.

Another key development in the future of DeFi is the growing interest in decentralised identity. Decentralised identity (DID) allows users to own and control their own digital identity, which can be used to access decentralised financial products and services. This could make DeFi more accessible to people who are currently excluded from the traditional financial system, such as those without a credit history or those living in countries with unstable currencies.

The technology behind DeFi is complex, but it is built on the foundation of blockchain and smart contracts. Blockchain is a decentralised, distributed ledger that records all transactions on the network. It allows for trustless transactions, without the need for a central intermediary. Smart contracts, which are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement written into code, enable the creation of decentralised applications that can run on the blockchain. These smart contracts can be used to create a wide range of decentralized financial products and services, such as lending platforms, decentralised exchanges, and stablecoins.

In conclusion, DeFi is a rapidly growing area of the cryptocurrency and blockchain space that is creating new opportunities for innovation in financial services.