Cryptocurrency refers to a decentralised virtual currency with high levels of security due to cryptography.

This type of currency allows users to have complete control over their money thanks to the peer-to-peer systems of blockchain. Blockchain records the transactions across multiple computers, ensuring its security and traceability.

Cryptocurrency has disrupted the financial sector over the last few years as it has no centralised authority controlling it, unlike traditional financial institutions. This absence of intermediaries reduces transaction costs and increases transaction speed.

Cryptocurrency has made the financial world sit up and take notice as it provides enhanced security, democratises trading, and enables multiple financial innovations. It also eliminates any geographical boundaries, reduces the need for physical infrastructure, and allows for a diversified investment portfolio.

Blockchain is one of the primary reasons the FinTech world has noticed cryptocurrency. What sets blockchain apart is that it is a public ledger that is decentralised and distributed. This means that no one authority has access to the records of blockchain transactions. The transactions, which are stored on blocks, are all linked and cannot be altered without changing all the previous blocks, making crypto highly secure.

FinTech taking notice of blockchain and adopting it has led to the birth of Decentralised Finance (DeFi). Without an intermediary facilitating it, the advent of DeFi has presented the world with an alternative to traditional financial institutions.

DeFi has multiple applications, including banking, P2P payments, trade finance, crypto lending, upgrading regulatory compliance, establishing a digital identity, financial auditing processes, creating new crowdfunding models, and scalability of FinTech applications.