When talking about DeFi, a set of blockchain‑based financial services that operate without traditional intermediaries like banks, you’re stepping into a space where anyone can lend, borrow, trade or earn interest using code instead of paperwork. Also known as Decentralized Finance, DeFi relies on open protocols that anyone can inspect or improve. This openness creates a fast‑moving ecosystem where new ideas appear daily, and that’s why you’ll see topics like Yield farming, the practice of moving assets across platforms to capture the highest rewards and Liquidity pools, shared reserves of tokens that enable instant trading without order books pop up in almost every article.
At the heart of all these services are Smart contracts, self‑executing code that enforces the rules of a transaction once conditions are met. Without smart contracts, there would be no way to guarantee that a loan is repaid, a trade is settled, or a pool stays balanced. In practice, smart contracts enable DeFi to scale, because they eliminate the need for manual oversight and cut costs dramatically. They also make token swaps possible: users can exchange one cryptocurrency for another directly from a wallet, sidestepping centralized exchanges and their fees.
Understanding DeFi means recognizing three core relationships. First, DeFi encompasses yield farming – you can’t farm without the broader decentralized framework. Second, yield farming requires liquidity pools to provide the capital that earns rewards. Third, both yield farming and token swaps depend on smart contracts to execute trades automatically and securely. These connections form a loop: smart contracts power pools, pools feed farms, farms drive demand for swaps, and swaps reinforce the need for more robust contracts.
Beyond the basics, the tag collection on this page shows how DeFi touches many niches. You’ll find deep dives into Proof‑of‑View advertising on Verasity, reviews of exchanges that list DeFi tokens, and analyses of how sharding can improve DeFi scalability. There are also practical guides on token airdrops that often target DeFi users, and pieces on how countries like Portugal tax crypto gains – a key concern for anyone earning yield farming income.
All this material is curated for readers who want both the theory and the tools to start or improve their DeFi journey. Whether you’re curious about staking a new token, assessing the risk of a leveraged yield farm, or simply looking for the latest tax advice, the articles below cover the full spectrum.
Ready to explore? Scroll down to see the full list of posts, each offering a clear, actionable look at a different facet of decentralized finance.
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