Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is a system of financial services built entirely on public blockchain networks. It allows people to transact, save, lend, borrow, and trade without relying on centralized intermediaries like commercial banking corporations.
### Why Traditional Finance (TradFi) Fails Millions
* **Restrictive Requirements:** Traditional financial systems exclude millions of unbanked citizens because they lack credit history, geographic identity papers, or high initial deposit minimums.
* **Intermediary Arbitrary Control:** Banks act as administrative middlemen, giving them full power to monitor, delay, block, or freeze account access at their convenience.
* **High Fees and Friction:** International transfers are slow, expensive, and require intermediate clearing networks, taking days to settle while charging substantial commissions.
DeFi offers an alternative, providing open, transparent, and permissionless financial access.