Blockchain technology began in 2008 when an unidentified person named Satoshi Nakamoto proposed a cryptocurrency called Bitcoin. Satoshi Nakamoto had distrust of the existing financial system and wanted to implement a financial system that is robust against hacking or mannipulation without a middleman such as a bank through blockchain technology. Satoshi proposed a blockchain as a technology to prevent the creation of the bitcoin and forging of transactions, and through this, the functions of issuance, transaction, and verification of currency were implemented.
Since then, Ethereum, a cryptocurrency that can implement the smart contract on the blockchain, has been developed, allowing financial products that require complex contracts such as deposits, loans, insurance, and derivatives to be brought into the area of cryptocurrency. In addition, it is expanding the possibility of substituting products provided by financial institutions through combination with real assets. These applications are defined as Decentralized Finance (DeFi).
This paper was prepared to understand the overall technical understanding of DeFi and to introduce the services currently in operation. First, the technologies and ecosystems that implement the overall DeFi are explained, and then the representative DeFi services are categorized by feature and described.