TradFi
Traditional finance, the established system of banks, exchanges, and regulators that crypto positions itself against.
Short for traditional finance. TradFi covers the legacy machinery of money: banks and stock exchanges, plus the regulators that oversee them. Crypto coined the term to mark the contrast with decentralized finance.
The line has blurred. BlackRock now runs a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, and banks custody digital assets, while crypto firms chase licenses. What started as opposition increasingly looks like a merger.
Related terms
Financial services run by code on public blockchains, letting people trade or borrow without a bank.
CeFi (Centralized Finance)Crypto services run by companies that hold your funds and keys, much like a bank or traditional broker.
Bitcoin ETFA fund tracking bitcoin's price that trades on stock exchanges, letting investors gain exposure without holding the coin.
FiatGovernment-issued money like the US dollar or euro, backed by state authority rather than gold or any commodity.