CeFi and DeFi Explained
With Bitcoin’s 10th birthday come and gone, developers and entrepreneurs are now looking to take a bigger bite out of the banking industry.
Over the last 10-years, the crypto market has been largely aligned with the global banking system in the form of centralized financial services.
In fact, only a handful of decentralized exchanges have existed in recent years. It’s also worth noting that, while the platforms such as Ripple delivers a decentralized global payment system, Ripple is not truly decentralized.
These platforms all fall under the category of Centralized Financial Services.
As far as the crypto world is concerned, the main differential between “CeFi” and “DeFi” is whether a community trusts people or technology.
Using the simple differential
CeFi: Users trust people behind a platform to manage and ensure that a crypto platform remains a going concern. In other words, the area of focus is on the appropriate governance to ensure the success and viability of a platform.
DeFi: The community trusts technology and its capability to function and deliver its core deliverables. Under the current ethos of DeFi, there is no governance and the success of a DeFi platform is reflected in the community behind it.
The Commonalities
For many in the crypto world, CeFi and DeFi provide very similar services at present, making them indistinguishable.
Currently, both CeFi and Defi platforms deliver financial services that include but are not limited to:
- Borrowing
- Crypto trading
- Derivatives trading
- Margin trading
- Lending
- Payments
- Stablecoins
There are, however, some distinct differences.
The Differences
AML/KYC: In the world of DeFi, platforms don’t require user information. Users enjoy anonymity across the DeFi space. This is something that regulators brought an end to across the CeFi space, particularly in regulated jurisdictions.
Cross-Chain Support: DeFi platforms are unable to support the trading of some of the larger cryptos by market cap. In the DeFi space, at present, tokens must follow Ethereum standards, though this is expected to expand…
At the time of writing, Tron has also become part of the DeFi movement to compete with Ethereum that faces capacity issues.
Adaptability v Innovation: In the world of CeFi, governance and management ensure the right level of customer services to stay on top. This is adaptability over innovation. By contrast, the DeFi world is about innovation, as technology and not people is the influencer.
Crypto to Fiat: CeFi platforms are able to support crypto to fiat and fiat to crypto transactions. This is because of the AML/KYC requirements that CeFi platforms must adhere to.
Custody: CeFi platforms require users to keep funds on the platforms providing financial services. The issue of custody puts users at risk of hacks and theft. Let’s not forget that CeFi platforms also hold personal information in addition to user funds…
Transparency: Due to the nature of CeFi platforms, there is a transparency issue. Within the DeFi space, platforms are governed by technology and, specifically, smart contracts, ensuring transparency.
The Buzz Words
As DeFi etches is existence into the crypto sphere, there are a number of buzz words that any crypto trader and investor must know…
DEX: These are decentralized exchanges that run on smart contracts. The smart contracts are encoded with instructions to execute orders on a DEX.
Innovation, innovation, innovation: DeFi is technology-driven and, as such, will continue to innovate rather than adapt to meet customer needs. At present, the DeFi space is in Rapid Innovation Mode (“RIM”).
Permissionless: There are no AML or KYX processes to access DeFi platforms and financial services. This means that users do not need to provide personal information to fund DeFi accounts or to have access to DeFi financial services. All a DeFi user needs is a wallet.
Trustless: A DeFi community does not need to trust that a protocol will deliver what it says on the box. There are a number of auditors and more appearing in the space to assess and review capabilities. Most importantly is the ability to assess and verify smart contracts that DeFi protocols have in place to deliver and execute financial services.
The CeFi – DeFi Bridge
With the DeFi market in its infancy, the first step has been to build a bridge between the CeFi and DeFi worlds.
By Bob Mason
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