The global financial system, or what we broadly refer to as TradFi (Traditional Finance), is a $30+ trillion behemoth. Its reach spans commercial banking, global banking assets, insurance, capital markets, wealth management, and asset servicing. It touches every person, business, and institution, underpinning how value flows through the world.
Meanwhile, DeFi (Decentralized Finance), despite being the most transformational innovation to hit financial services in decades, remains a mere rounding error in that picture. Depending on how you measure it, via Total Value Locked (TVL), DeFi token market cap, protocol revenue, or institutional activity, DeFi’s footprint barely scratches $150 billion on a good day. That’s less than half a percent of TradFi’s scope.
