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Glossary · DeFi

Smart contract

Also: smart contracts

A smart contract is a program deployed to a blockchain that holds assets and executes its rules automatically when called, so the terms of an agreement are enforced by the network rather than by a counterparty.

DeFi
DeFi, short for decentralized finance, is the set of financial services built as public smart contracts on a blockchain, so that lending, trading and issuance run as code anyone can inspect and use without an account at an intermediary.
Immutability
Immutability is the property of a deployed contract whose code and parameters can never be changed, which removes the risk of an administrator altering the rules but also removes any way to fix a flaw after launch.

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