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Decentralized Finance 101 in 15 minutes

Why DeFi Matters

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How To Make Money in DeFi

“DeFi dOeSn’T hAvE aNy ReAL uTiLiTy” - every DeFi skeptic ever Let’s put that argument to rest… Here’s 8 ways you can use DeFi! (and 2 developing economies using it rn)

💲 Payments

🔀 Lending & Borrowing

🤝 Exchanges

💰 Stable currencies

📊 Advanced Trading & Prediction Markets

💼 Portfolio Management

🛡️ Insurance

🌍 DeFi in Latin America & Kenya

💲 Payments

You can send money around the world as easy as sending an email.

Examples: Strike (send BTC), Tornado (send ETH), Sablier (stream ETH)

*To send or receive payments, you will need a wallet. FYI, each blockchain (Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, etc) has their own type of wallet.

🔀 Lending & Borrowing

You can earn interest on your crypto through lending. Decentralized lending works without either party having to identify themselves. Borrowers put collateral into a smart contract, where it is kept until the loan is repaid. So, there is no bias affecting whether or not you can get a loan.

There are two ways two borrow in DeFi:

1. Peer-to-peer = a borrower borrows directly from a specific lender.
2. Pool-based = lenders provide funds (liquidity) to a pool that borrowers can borrow from.

Examples: Compound (pool-based), AAVE (pool-based), Flash Loans (no collateral), PoolTogether (no-loss lottery)

🤝 Exchanges

You can swap crypto tokens 24/7. Tokens can give you access to different web3 applications. There are centralized (CEX) & decentralized (DEX) exchanges. More on the differences here.

Examples: Coinbase (CEX), Binance (CEX), Uniswap (DEX), Curve (DEX)