Centralised Finance (CeFi)
German: Zentralisierte Kryptofinanz (CeFi)
Crypto-asset services offered through a company that holds customer balances — an exchange, broker or lender. Operationally it is the traditional model applied to crypto: an account, an onboarding check, a custodian and an order book, usually with the counterparty risk of a bank and none of its deposit protection.
Usually someone trying to place CeFi between DeFi and traditional finance; the useful answer is that it is not a midpoint but the traditional operating model with crypto underneath.
Zentralisierte Kryptofinanz (CeFi) — Kryptodienstleistungen über ein Unternehmen, das Kundenguthaben verwahrt — Börse, Broker oder Kreditgeber. Betrieblich ist das der klassische Aufbau, angewandt auf Kryptowerte: Konto, Identifizierung, Verwahrstelle und Orderbuch, in der Regel mit dem Gegenparteirisiko einer Bank, aber ohne deren Einlagensicherung.
Related terms
Looking for how this maps to its traditional-finance counterpart rather than a standalone definition? See the Term Bridge, which also flags where the obvious analogy is wrong.