DeFi refers to a suite of financial services — lending, borrowing, trading, yield generation — built on public blockchains, primarily Ethereum. It aims to replicate and disintermediate traditional finance without banks or intermediaries. At its peak in 2021, over $180 billion was locked in DeFi protocols.
A Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) is an organisation governed by code rather than traditional management hierarchies. Members hold governance tokens and vote on proposals — from treasury spending to protocol changes. DAOs manage billions in assets across DeFi, investment, and protocol governance.
A decentralised exchange (DEX) allows users to trade cryptocurrencies directly from their wallets using smart contracts, with no central intermediary and without giving up custody of funds. Automated Market Makers replaced traditional order books with liquidity pools.
Celsius Network was a centralised crypto lending platform that offered high yields on deposited crypto — attracting over 1.7 million customers and $12 billion in assets. In June 2022, Celsius froze all withdrawals amid a liquidity crisis and filed for bankruptcy.