DeFi (decentralized finance) is swapping, lending and liquidity that run as programs on a network. There is no office to visit with a passport. There is a contract address and your signature.

Uniswap, Jupiter, STON.fi, Aave, Meteora — different flavours of one idea: the rules sit in code, not in a manager's policy.

How this is not an exchange

On a CEX the order lives on a server. On a DEX the swap goes from your wallet into a pool. The keys stay yours if the wallet is non-custodial. Liquidity can be worse. A scam token with the same ticker is normal.

Where the risk comes from

  • A contract with a hole or an admin back door.
  • A pool with no liquidity: a price on screen, nothing you can sell into.
  • You signed an approve for the whole balance — the site drains it later.
  • Counting the position and the wallet receipt twice. How not to inflate the total: DeFi without double-counting.

You do not have to use DeFi. If you do, look at the position, not only the token in the wallet. Crypto360 tries not to add the same dollars twice.