Transformation of Financial Intermediation Under the Influence of DeFi

The subject of the study is to determine, how the environment of decentralised finance (DeFi) replicates the functions previously provided by institutional intermediaries. This is not concerned with the preservation of banks, as financial entities, but rather with the fate of mechanisms, which render their activity essential, as well as the means and modifications they operate in DeFi. The objective of the study is to identify functions related to financial intermediation without the reference to the organisational form. Besides, it is aimed to explore the specific features of their implementation in a decentralised environment, as well as determine the circumstances, which necessitate the existence of entities with institutional responsibility. The scientific novelty of the research is a comparative analysis of the methods of implementing functions instead of descriptive or purely technological interpretation of DeFi. The study’s primary focus is pinpointed on the content of operations, rather than on the structure of protocols or program code: namely, the actions performed, the consequences for the redistribution of resources, the sustainability of obligations, as well as the formation of trust between parties.