IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v16y2023i10p454-d1264017.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Deciphering DeFi: A Comprehensive Analysis and Visualization of Risks in Decentralized Finance

Author

Listed:
  • Tim Weingärtner

    (School of Computer Science and Information Technology, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, 6343 Rotkreuz, Switzerland)

  • Fabian Fasser

    (School of Computer Science and Information Technology, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, 6343 Rotkreuz, Switzerland)

  • Pedro Reis Sá da Costa

    (School of Computer Science and Information Technology, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, 6343 Rotkreuz, Switzerland)

  • Walter Farkas

    (Department of Banking and Finance, University of Zürich, 8032 Zürich, Switzerland
    Department of Mathematics, ETH Zürich, 8032 Zürich, Switzerland
    Swiss Finance Institute, 8006 Zürich, Switzerland)

Abstract

Decentralized finance (DeFi) promises a revolution in financial accessibility, transparency, and automation. Yet, its very novelty exposes participants to a number of additional risks and challenges. This study aims to address the risks associated with DeFi, while also conducting a comparative analysis to those of classical/traditional finance (TradFi). After introducing DeFi and its defining characteristics, such as the use of smart contracts, blockchain technology, and decentralized governance, the paper outlines the principal risks associated with DeFi. Drawing insights from an extensive literature review of 200 recent articles, of which 50 were thoroughly analyzed, the study compares risks of DeFi and TradFi, categorizing these into systematic and unsystematic risks. Furthermore, we introduce the ‘risk wheel’, an innovative tool tailored to understand and navigate the subtleties of DeFi risks, finding potential applications in risk assessment, management, and even education. This paper’s primary objective is to provide a detailed and impartial examination of the risks associated with DeFi and their comparison to traditional finance in order to assist stakeholders in making informed decisions and mitigating possible losses.

Suggested Citation

  • Tim Weingärtner & Fabian Fasser & Pedro Reis Sá da Costa & Walter Farkas, 2023. "Deciphering DeFi: A Comprehensive Analysis and Visualization of Risks in Decentralized Finance," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-25, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:16:y:2023:i:10:p:454-:d:1264017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/16/10/454/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/16/10/454/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raphael A. Auer, 2022. "Embedded Supervision: How to Build Regulation into Decentralised Finance," CESifo Working Paper Series 9771, CESifo.
    2. Mohsen Pourpouneh & Kurt Nielsen & Omri Ross, 2020. "Automated Market Makers," IFRO Working Paper 2020/08, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    3. Matthias Nadler & Felix Bekemeier & Fabian Schar, 2022. "DeFi Risk Transfer: Towards A Fully Decentralized Insurance Protocol," Papers 2212.10308, arXiv.org.
    4. Francesca Carapella & Edward Dumas & Jacob Gerszten & Nathan Swem, 2022. "Decentralized Finance (DeFi): Transformative Potential and Associated Risks," Policy Hub, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, vol. 2022(14), October.
    5. Laura Grassi & Davide Lanfranchi & Alessandro Faes & Filippo Maria Renga, 2022. "Do we still need financial intermediation? The case of decentralized finance – DeFi," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 19(3), pages 323-347, February.
    6. Francesca Carapella & Nathan Swem, 2022. "Decentralized Finance (DeFi): Transformative Potential & Associated Risks," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2022-057, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    7. Sirio Aramonteand & Wenqian Huang & Andreas Schrimpf, 2021. "DeFi risks and the decentralisation illusion," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ghaemi Asl, Mahdi & Ben Jabeur, Sami, 2024. "Tail connectedness of DeFi and CeFi with accessible banking pillars: Unveiling novel insights through wavelet and quantile cross-spectral coherence analyses," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PB).
    2. Andry Alamsyah & Gede Natha Wijaya Kusuma & Dian Puteri Ramadhani, 2024. "A Review on Decentralized Finance Ecosystems," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-29, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Saengchote, Kanis & Samphantharak, Krislert, 2024. "Digital money creation and algorithmic stablecoin run," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    2. Lioba Heimbach & Wenqian Huang, 2024. "DeFi leverage," BIS Working Papers 1171, Bank for International Settlements.
    3. Impenna, Claudio, 2023. "The Crypto Ecosystem: Prospects and Challenges for Regulators," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 76(3), pages 297-310.
    4. Iveta Grigorova & Aleksandar Karamfilov & Radostin Merakov & Aleksandar Efremov, 2023. "Simulation of Dynamic Performance of DeFi Protocol Based on Historical Crypto Market Behavior," Risks, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, December.
    5. Abate, Giorgio & Branzoli, Nicola & Gallo, Raffaele, 2023. "Crypto-Asset Markets: Structure, Market Developments in 2022 and Policy Considerations," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 76(3), pages 353-386.
    6. Carlo Campajola & Marco D'Errico & Claudio J. Tessone, 2022. "MicroVelocity: rethinking the Velocity of Money for digital currencies," Papers 2201.13416, arXiv.org, revised May 2023.
    7. Saengchote, Kanis, 2023. "Decentralized lending and its users: Insights from compound," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    8. Ravi Kashyap, 2024. "The Concentration Risk Indicator: Raising the Bar for Financial Stability and Portfolio Performance Measurement," Papers 2408.07271, arXiv.org.
    9. Goodell, John W. & Yadav, Miklesh Prasad & Ruan, Junhu & Abedin, Mohammad Zoynul & Malhotra, Nidhi, 2023. "Traditional assets, digital assets and renewable energy: Investigating connectedness during COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PA).
    10. Ravi Kashyap, 2024. "The Democratization of Wealth Management: Hedged Mutual Fund Blockchain Protocol," Papers 2405.02302, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2024.
    11. Jonathan Chiu & Charles M. Kahn & Thorsten V. Koeppl, 2022. "Grasping decentralized finance through the lens of economic theory," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(4), pages 1702-1728, November.
    12. Fantacci, Luca & Lorenzini, Marcella, 2024. "Technology versus trust: Non-bank credit systems from notarized loans in Early Modern Europe to cryptolending," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 83-95.
    13. Tristan Lim, 2022. "Predictive Crypto-Asset Automated Market Making Architecture for Decentralized Finance using Deep Reinforcement Learning," Papers 2211.01346, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2023.
    14. Arindam Misra, 2024. "Tax Policy Handbook for Crypto Assets," Papers 2403.15074, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2024.
    15. Ghaemi Asl, Mahdi & Ben Jabeur, Sami, 2024. "Tail connectedness of DeFi and CeFi with accessible banking pillars: Unveiling novel insights through wavelet and quantile cross-spectral coherence analyses," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PB).
    16. Tristan Lim, 2024. "Predictive crypto-asset automated market maker architecture for decentralized finance using deep reinforcement learning," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 1-29, December.
    17. Kliber, Agata, 2022. "Looking for a safe haven against American stocks during COVID-19 pandemic," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    18. Gülcihan Aydaner & H. Aydın Okuyan, 2024. "Decentralized finance: a comparative bibliometric analysis in the Scopus and WoS databases," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-24, December.
    19. BELAŞCU Lucian & HOROBEȚ Alexandra & MNOHOGHITNEI Irina, 2022. "Bitcoin is so Last Decade – How Decentralized Finance (DeFi) could Shape the Digital Economy," European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Bucharest Economic Academy, issue 01, March.
    20. Qiao, Xingzhi & Zhu, Huiming & Tang, Yiding & Peng, Cheng, 2023. "Time-frequency extreme risk spillover network of cryptocurrency coins, DeFi tokens and NFTs," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:16:y:2023:i:10:p:454-:d:1264017. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.