Decentralised finance has been keeping pace with the changing technology. In a matter of years, things have changed significantly. To begin with, it was a mere exchange of cryptocurrencies. It has evolved now into a full-fledged eco-system.

The key enabler is the Bitcoin. Its scope, however, was limited but led to the creation of Ethereum, which turned out to be the default blockchain for most of DeFi platforms. Bitcoin used Script as the programming language. It was not suitable for advanced apps. Ethereum launched in 2015 went beyond the limitations of Script. Its programming language is Solidity. It follows ERC20 standard for new token creation. It become popular smart contract platform.

These developments led to a protocol resulting into the creation of Stablecoins. Stablecoin, as cryptocurrency, provides value stability and is pegged to the reserve assets held by central banks. In addition, it offers privacy, safety and quickness of transactions offered by cryptos. Most of all, it is stable just like the fiat currencies.

Ethereum expanded on account of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) between 2017 and 2018. It involved the sale of tokens to raise funds for the development and launch of decentralised applications.

Initially, except exchanges where cryptos were traded, there was no other infrastructure. After the smart contracts were incorporated to initiate the first stages of DeFi (2017-18), a lot of infrastructure was built. In 2020, DeFi took off. As the market opportunities come on the scene, there will be more infrastructure.

It is expected that in future there will be regulation to facilitate crypto fund management. There are experiments of creating decentralised funds.