Decentralized Finance (DeFi) How Decentralized Applications (dApps) Disrupt Banking

This book explores how decentralized finance (DeFi) can disrupt traditional centralized finance including the business areas of insurance companies, banks, money markets, and bonds. DeFi is not a company or a single product, rather it is a collection of products or services. As part of the Ethereum ecosystem, DeFi services are provided as Decentralized Applications (dApps), which require smart contracts to lock in assets for processing transactions. Changing consumer expectations, the availability of affordable technologies, and entrepreneurial drive create space for DeFi. Geopolitical crises and trust deterioration exacerbate the need. This book explains the concept of DeFi, the technological opportunities, the current reality and status quo of business transactions, and demonstrates the potential for future use and the eventual transformation of the financial industry. It further provides a comprehensive analysis of the real-world applications of DeFi, the Decentralized Ledger Technology (DLT), and digital assets, as well as their potential risks to consumers and financial institutions to bankers, managers, investors, and policymakers.

Cordelia Friesendorf is the Academic Director and Professor of International Business Administration at the SRH Hamburg in Germany. In addition to teaching and conducting research, she consults on corporate strategy, ESG reporting, sustainable finance, digital transformation, governance, and technology leadership.

As a C-suite executive responsible for strategic planning and transformation within multinational companies, she has worked in both European and Asian markets over the past two decades and has vast experience in the establishment of profitable business divisions, talent management, and business model innovation.

Alena Blütener is a consultant for banking and capital markets transformation at Deloitte Consulting in Hamburg, Germany. She is a graduate of International Management from the International School of Management in Hamburg and UC Irvine, USA. Having worked for BNP Paribas and Netfonds AG, she has professional experience in digitalization and innovation-oriented transformation of the financial sector, where she focused especially on sustainability and equity.