A Primer on Cryptocurrencies and Passive Income (From HODL to Harvest)

SAMI

September 20, 2025 21 mins to read

Table of Contents

I. A Primer on Cryptocurrencies and Passive Income

A. The Fundamental Nature of Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies are a class of digital tokens or virtual currencies designed to facilitate direct, peer-to-peer payments through a decentralized online system.¹ They represent a paradigm shift from traditional finance by operating without the need for a central authority, such as a bank or government, to manage transactions. The value of a cryptocurrency is not derived from a legislative decree that designates it as legal tender, nor is it backed by a tangible commodity or a central bank.¹ Instead, its worth is determined solely by the market forces of supply and demand—what people are willing to pay for it.¹ Well-known examples of this new form of digital asset include Bitcoin and Ether, which have seen a significant increase in market activity.¹

The technological bedrock of cryptocurrencies is the blockchain, a form of distributed ledger technology.¹ This is essentially a public, shared file that records all transactions and is stored across a vast network of computers.² Each time a transaction occurs, it is bundled into a “block” that is then cryptographically linked to the previous one, forming a secure and immutable “chain”.¹ This decentralized, public ledger is what enables trustless transactions, allowing individuals to transact directly with each other without the need to know or trust their counterparty.¹ The distributed nature of the blockchain makes it computationally and practically impossible for a single entity to include a fraudulent transaction.²

A common point of confusion is whether cryptocurrencies can be considered money. A rigorous analysis shows that they do not yet fully meet the three key functions of a well-functioning currency: a store of value, a unit of account, and a medium of exchange.² As a store of value, their effectiveness is limited by large price fluctuations, which mean their purchasing power is not maintained over time.¹ As a unit of account, their volatility makes it difficult to easily compare the value of goods and services.² While they can be used for payments, limitations such as slow transaction speeds and high costs restrict their widespread adoption as a medium of exchange.² For these reasons, cryptocurrencies are more accurately characterized as high-risk, speculative assets than a standard currency.²

B. Understanding Passive Income in the Context of Crypto

Passive income is defined as earnings derived from an enterprise in which an individual is not actively or directly involved.³ In the realm of finance, this typically means a strategy of “letting money work for you” with minimal active effort.⁴ Traditional passive income streams include interest from a bank savings account, stock dividends, or rental income from real estate.⁴

The advent of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology has given rise to a new, unique class of passive income opportunities that are native to these decentralized systems.⁴ Unlike traditional methods where a company or bank pays a return from its business operations, crypto passive income is often generated by directly providing a service to the network itself.³ This can involve contributing to the network’s security through staking, providing liquidity to facilitate trading, or lending assets to borrowers.³ These methods have grown in popularity due to their potential for higher returns, greater flexibility, and the innovative nature of the underlying technology.⁴ The potential returns can vary widely and are influenced by factors such as the cryptocurrency’s price volatility, the demand on the network, and the specific level of user participation.³

II. The Architecture of Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

A. What is DeFi?

Decentralized finance, or DeFi, is an emerging financial system built on programmable, permissionless blockchains that enables direct transactions between individuals and businesses.⁷ This system represents a direct challenge to the traditional financial architecture by replacing centralized intermediaries with self-executing digital agreements known as smart contracts.⁹ These smart contracts are programs stored on a blockchain that automatically enforce the terms of a transaction, thereby creating a “trustless” ecosystem where parties can interact without needing to rely on a third-party authority.⁷

B. DeFi vs. Traditional Finance: A High-Level Comparison

The differences between DeFi and traditional finance (TradFi) are not merely technological; they are fundamentally structural and philosophical. The core distinction lies in the elimination of intermediaries, which directly influences every other aspect of the system. This architectural choice leads to a series of cause-and-effect relationships that differentiate DeFi from its conventional counterpart.

A traditional bank, for example, operates as a centralized institution with an internal profit motive. It takes a spread between the interest it pays depositors and the interest it charges borrowers, with this spread representing its fee for intermediating the transaction. DeFi protocols, by contrast, use smart contracts to automate this process, allowing a larger portion of the revenue to flow directly to the users.⁹ This leads to the potential for higher yields for lenders and lower costs for borrowers. The table below provides a comprehensive comparison of these two systems.

Criteria	Traditional Finance (TradFi)	Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
Intermediaries	Centralized institutions (banks, brokers, payment processors) ⁹	Smart contracts and decentralized protocols ⁹
Accessibility	Often has high barriers to entry, including lengthy verification and documentation ⁹	Permissionless and open to anyone with an internet connection and crypto wallet ⁹
User Control	Users rely on institutions to manage funds; do not have full control over assets ⁹	Users retain direct, non-custodial control over their funds through digital wallets ⁹
Transparency	Lacks public transparency; internal operations are opaque ¹⁵	Transactions are recorded on a public blockchain, enhancing transparency and reducing fraud risk ¹³
Fees	Often includes high transaction costs and commissions ¹¹	Typically has lower fees due to the absence of middlemen ¹⁴
Regulation	Governed by strict regulatory bodies like central banks and the SEC ⁹	Operates in a largely unregulated environment, with evolving, fragmented laws ¹⁸

C. The Benefits of DeFi for Passive Income Generation

DeFi’s unique architecture provides several compelling benefits for individuals seeking passive income. First, it democratizes access to financial services, removing the high barriers to entry often found in traditional systems.¹² Anyone with an internet connection and a digital wallet can participate, fostering financial inclusion for the “unbanked” population and empowering individuals globally.⁹

Second, by cutting out traditional intermediaries, DeFi can offer potentially higher interest rates and yields than conventional savings accounts.⁴ This is a key incentive for investors looking for better returns on their holdings. This structural advantage also allows for a wider range of innovative financial products that are simply not available in traditional banking.¹³

Finally, DeFi allows users to maintain full control of their assets.¹⁴ Unlike a bank where funds are in the institution’s custody, DeFi is primarily non-custodial, meaning users retain their private keys and thus their assets, even while they are earning rewards.⁹

III. Primary Strategies for Generating Passive Crypto Income

Passive income generation in DeFi is not a single activity but a spectrum of strategies that align with an investor’s risk tolerance, time commitment, and financial goals. The following methods can be viewed as a tiered progression, from the most passive and beginner-friendly to the most active and complex.

A. Method 1: Staking

Staking is one of the most popular and relatively low-risk methods for generating passive crypto income.³ It involves holding and locking up a certain amount of cryptocurrency in a wallet to support the operations and security of a blockchain network.³ This process is integral to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains, where network participants are chosen to validate transactions and create new blocks based on the amount of tokens they have staked.⁴ This validation process is far less energy-intensive than the mining operations used in Proof-of-Work (PoW) systems.⁴

In return for their participation, stakers receive regular and predictable rewards, often in the form of newly minted tokens or a portion of transaction fees.³ The rewards are typically influenced by the amount of tokens staked, the duration of the staking period, and overall network conditions.⁴ Staking can be done directly on-chain, or through centralized exchanges that pool user assets and handle the technical complexities of validation.²²

B. Method 2: Yield Farming

Yield farming is a high-risk, high-reward strategy that involves lending or staking cryptocurrencies across various DeFi protocols to maximize returns.³ It is a more active strategy than staking, as it requires investors to actively monitor and move their funds to chase the highest yields available in the market.¹⁴ While it offers the highest potential returns, these come with an increased risk due to the volatility of the market and the susceptibility of smart contracts to bugs and exploits.¹⁴

A key tool for passive investors seeking to engage in yield farming is a yield aggregator, such as Yearn Finance.¹⁴ These protocols automatically allocate a user’s funds to the highest-yielding opportunities, providing a way to participate in complex strategies without requiring constant, active management.¹⁴

C. Method 3: Liquidity Mining

Liquidity mining is a subset of yield farming that focuses specifically on providing liquidity to decentralized exchanges (DEXs).²¹ Users deposit a pair of tokens (e.g., ETH/USDT) into a liquidity pool, which facilitates trading on the platform.³ In exchange for their contribution, liquidity providers earn a share of the transaction fees generated by the pool.⁴ Some platforms also offer additional rewards in the form of governance tokens to incentivize participation.⁴ While liquidity mining is generally considered less complex than high-level yield farming, it still carries significant risks, most notably impermanent loss.²¹

D. Method 4: Lending and Borrowing

Crypto lending allows investors to earn stable and predictable interest income by lending their digital assets to borrowers through a platform.³ Borrowers, in turn, can use their crypto as collateral for a loan, often without the need for a credit check.²⁵ This allows individuals to gain liquidity without having to sell their holdings.²⁵

Lending can be done on both centralized finance (CeFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms.¹³ CeFi platforms, such as CoinRabbit, offer a streamlined user experience and manage the process for the user.¹³ In contrast, DeFi protocols, like Aave and Compound, allow users to lend directly to borrowers via smart contracts, promoting a more transparent and trustless system.¹³

Strategy	How It Works	Risk Profile	Complexity/Time	Potential Returns
Staking	Locking assets to secure a PoS network and validate transactions. ⁴	Low to Moderate ³	Low ²⁰	Lower but more consistent, predictable returns. ³
Lending	Lending crypto to borrowers for interest payments. ³	Low to Moderate ³	Low ³	Stable and predictable interest income. ³
Liquidity Mining	Providing a pair of tokens to a DEX to facilitate trades. ³	Medium (due to impermanent loss) ²¹	Moderate ²¹	Medium to High, earned from a share of trading fees. ²¹
Yield Farming	Actively moving funds across various protocols to find the highest yields. ¹³	High (due to volatility and complexity) ²⁰	High, requires continuous monitoring. ²⁰	The highest potential returns, but at greater risk. ²⁰

IV. Navigating the Landscape of Risks and Security

A. Risks Associated with DeFi

The decentralized and permissionless nature of DeFi introduces a unique set of risks that are not present in traditional finance.

Technical Risks: The core of DeFi is code, and flaws in a smart contract can lead to catastrophic losses.⁷ For example, the 2016 DAO hack was a result of a reentrancy attack that allowed an attacker to drain funds by repeatedly calling a withdrawal function before the contract’s state was updated.¹⁸ Other vulnerabilities include unaudited code, which was a key factor in the $600 million Ronin Network breach.¹⁸ The interlinked nature of DeFi protocols means a weakness in one can create a systemic vulnerability that affects others, as seen in flash loan attacks where large sums are borrowed to manipulate prices and drain protocols.⁷
Economic Risks: Liquidity providers face a unique risk known as impermanent loss, which occurs when the price of assets in a liquidity pool changes significantly from when they were deposited.¹⁸ This can result in a lower value for the liquidity provider’s assets than if they had simply held them outside the pool.²¹ Beyond this, the high volatility of cryptocurrency markets can slash earnings or force investors into long holding periods.⁶
Platform and Security Risks: In a decentralized ecosystem, there is no central authority to regulate activity, which means users have limited legal recourse if they fall victim to a hack or a scam.⁷ The space is susceptible to various forms of fraud, including fake projects and “rug pulls” where project creators abandon the protocol and disappear with investor funds.³¹ The evolving and often fragmented regulatory landscape also poses a risk; abrupt policy changes could cause market volatility or even lead to a platform’s shutdown.¹⁸

B. How to Mitigate These Risks and Safely Invest in DeFi

Navigating the risks in DeFi requires a combination of technical diligence, strategic planning, and practical security measures. This approach is paramount, as the interlinked nature of protocols means a single failure can have a cascading ripple effect across the ecosystem.

Due Diligence: A primary mitigation strategy is to thoroughly research any platform before investing. This includes checking if the protocol has undergone a rigorous third-party smart contract audit to identify vulnerabilities in its code.¹⁸ It is also essential to assess a platform’s reputation and its Total Value Locked (TVL), a metric that indicates the level of user adoption and trust.²⁴ Be wary of unsolicited offers and promises of returns that seem “too good to be true”.³¹
Practical Security: The foundational principle of DeFi security is self-custody. Users must maintain full control of their private keys and recovery phrases, and never share them with anyone.³¹ Enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) on all trusted platforms is another crucial security measure that helps protect user accounts.³¹
Strategic Measures: To protect against market volatility and platform-specific risks, diversification is a key strategy.³ Spreading assets across multiple platforms and different types of tokens can help reduce the impact of a single poor-performing investment.¹³ For liquidity providers, choosing stablecoin pools can help mitigate the risk of impermanent loss due to price fluctuations.²⁴ Finally, some DeFi platforms offer insurance against smart contract failures or hacks, which may be a worthwhile investment to protect capital.¹³

Risk Type	Description	Mitigation Strategy
Technical Risks	Flaws in smart contract code, unaudited contracts, or oracle manipulation. ¹⁸	Use platforms with rigorous, third-party audits and bug bounty programs. ¹⁸
Economic Risks	Impermanent Loss: Price volatility in liquidity pools. ²⁹	Market Volatility: Drastic price fluctuations. ⁶	Invest in stablecoin pools to reduce volatility. Use stop-loss orders. Diversify assets. ¹³
Platform/Security Risks	Centralized components, lack of legal recourse for hacks, scams. ⁷	Conduct thorough due diligence, check platform reputation, use non-custodial wallets, and enable 2FA. ²⁴

V. A Step-by-Step Practical Guide to Getting Started

Getting started with DeFi passive income is a phased process that requires a systematic approach, moving from foundational preparation to execution and, finally, to ongoing maintenance.

Phase 1: Foundation and Preparation

Step 1: Define Your Strategy. The first and most critical step is to determine which passive income strategy aligns with your personal risk tolerance and financial goals.³ A beginner may choose to start with the more stable and predictable returns of staking or lending, while an experienced investor may opt for the higher-risk, higher-reward strategies of yield farming.

Step 2: Choose Your Digital Assets. Select cryptocurrencies that are suitable for your chosen strategy. For those new to the space, stablecoins are often recommended as a starting point due to their lower volatility.³⁵ Regardless of the asset, it is important to evaluate the project’s fundamentals, its market performance, and its tokenomics before making a decision.³

Step 3: Set Up a Secure Wallet. A non-custodial crypto wallet is the primary tool for interacting with DeFi protocols.¹³ This is where a user will store their private keys, giving them full control over their assets. It is essential to choose a reputable wallet and to securely back up the private keys or recovery phrase, as losing them means losing access to your funds.³¹

Step 4: Acquire Cryptocurrencies. Purchase your selected digital assets from a reputable and secure cryptocurrency exchange.¹³

Phase 2: Execution and Implementation

Step 5: Select a Platform. With your strategy and assets in mind, the next step is to choose a specific DeFi platform. When evaluating a platform, consider its security track record (whether it has been audited), its Total Value Locked (TVL), fees, supported assets, and user interface.²⁴

Step 6: Initiate Your Strategy. Connect your wallet to the chosen platform. From there, you will follow the specific instructions for your passive income method. This may involve locking up assets to a staking pool, depositing a pair of tokens into a liquidity pool, or lending your assets to a borrowing protocol.³

Phase 3: Maintenance and Optimization

Step 7: Monitor Your Portfolio. Once your strategy is active, it is important to regularly check your wallet or the platform’s dashboard to monitor your earnings and ensure that rewards are being paid out as expected.³

Step 8: Implement Advanced Strategies. For those who have gained experience and are comfortable with the risks, advanced strategies can be implemented to optimize returns. This could involve using a yield aggregator like Yearn Finance to automatically allocate funds to the highest-yielding opportunities or using liquid staking tokens (LSTs) to earn additional yield on top of staking rewards.¹⁴

Real-World Examples of Passive Income Generation

Lending with Aave: A user can deposit stablecoins like USDC onto the Aave lending protocol. Borrowers then take out loans against this liquidity, paying a variable interest rate. As a lender, the user earns a portion of this interest, with payouts often occurring daily, weekly, or monthly.³
Providing Liquidity on Uniswap: A liquidity provider can deposit a pair of tokens, such as ETH and USDT, into a liquidity pool on Uniswap. This provides the necessary liquidity for other users to trade the tokens. In return, the liquidity provider earns a share of the transaction fees generated by all trades that occur within that pool.¹⁴
Liquid Staking with Lido Finance: An Ethereum holder can stake their ETH with Lido Finance, a liquid staking protocol. In return, they receive a derivative token called stETH. The user earns rewards on the staked ETH, but they can also use the stETH in other DeFi applications (e.g., as collateral for a loan), effectively earning a dual income from a single asset.³⁷

VI. The Horizon of DeFi: Trends, Regulation, and the Road Ahead

A. Emerging Trends and Technologies in DeFi

The DeFi ecosystem is in a continuous state of evolution, with several key trends shaping its future. One of the most significant is the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs), which involves converting tangible assets like real estate, stocks, and bonds into digital tokens on a blockchain.³⁷ This trend bridges the gap between traditional finance and DeFi, bringing greater stability and attracting institutional capital.³⁷ It also democratizes access to illiquid assets, allowing for fractional ownership of high-value items like real estate.³⁷

Another critical trend is the rise of liquid staking tokens (LSTs).³⁷ These tokens solve a major problem of traditional staking by allowing users to retain liquidity and use their staked assets in other DeFi protocols. When a user stakes a token like ETH, they receive an LST (e.g., stETH) that can be used for lending, borrowing, or yield farming, enabling a dual-income strategy.³⁷ This innovation is expected to expand the liquid staking market as more protocols adopt the technology.³⁷

Furthermore, the need for seamless asset transfers between different blockchains has led to the development of crypto bridges.³⁷ As the ecosystem expands to multiple Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchains like Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche, these bridges facilitate cross-chain interoperability, enhancing capital efficiency.³⁷ Finally, the integration of

AI into DeFi protocols (DeFAI) is starting to automate processes like market making and lending logic, reducing the need for human input and allowing for real-time, data-driven decisions.³⁷

B. The Role of Regulation in the Future of DeFi

Regulation is no longer a theoretical debate but an evolving framework that is actively shaping the future of DeFi. The primary goals of regulators are to protect investors from fraud and manipulation, deter illicit activities, and promote transparency.¹⁹ The evolving approach in the United States, for example, is shifting from a period of “regulatory hesitation” to a more collaborative stance.⁴⁰ Landmark events, such as the approval of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in 2024 and the passage of stablecoin legislation, have signaled a move toward greater institutional acceptance and regulatory clarity.³⁹

This regulatory evolution presents a balancing act. While overly restrictive regulations could stifle innovation and increase costs for businesses, a clear and well-defined framework can bring legitimacy and stability to the market.¹⁹ Regulatory clarity is expected to attract a new wave of institutional capital, which has long been on the sidelines due to uncertainty.³⁸ The future of finance appears to be a convergence of traditional and decentralized systems, where the trust and stability of TradFi are integrated with the innovation, transparency, and accessibility of DeFi to create a more robust financial ecosystem.¹⁷

Works cited

Digital Currencies | Explainer | Education | RBA, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.rba.gov.au/education/resources/explainers/cryptocurrencies.html
What are cryptocurrencies like bitcoin I Central Bank of Ireland …, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.centralbank.ie/consumer-hub/explainers/what-are-cryptocurrencies-like-bitcoin
Passive Income from Crypto: 9 Easiest Ways to Earn in 2025 – Blockpit, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.blockpit.io/en-us/blog/passive-income-crypto
Passive Income in Crypto: A Guide to Staking, Lending, and Yield …, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.coinmetro.com/learning-lab/passive-income-in-crypto
25 Best Passive Income Ideas To Make Money in 2025 – Investopedia, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/passiveincome.asp
12 Smart Strategies to Earn Passive Income with Crypto – TokenTax, accessed September 19, 2025, https://tokentax.co/blog/passive-income-crypto
en.wikipedia.org, accessed September 19, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_finance
Understanding Decentralized Finance (DeFi): Basics and Functionality, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.investopedia.com/decentralized-finance-defi-5113835
How DeFi Differs from Traditional Finance – Cryptocurrency Basics – Telcoin, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.telco.in/support-center/cryptocurrency-basics/how-defi-differs-from-traditional-finance
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) – An Introduction (with Examples) – Brave, accessed September 19, 2025, https://brave.com/web3/what-is-defi/
TradFi or DeFi: Which is better for an investor’s portfolio? – ResearchGate, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381156475_TradFi_or_DeFi_Which_is_better_for_an_investor’s_portfolio
www.tencentcloud.com, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.tencentcloud.com/techpedia/101086#:~:text=Accessibility%3A%20Traditional%20financial%20services%20often,services%20without%20discrimination%20or%20barriers.
DeFi Passive Income Guide: Easy Steps to Crypto Earnings [2024] – Rapid Innovation, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.rapidinnovation.io/post/how-to-earn-passive-income-with-defi-a-step-by-step-guide
7 Top DeFi Ways to Earn While You Sleep (Easier Options), accessed September 19, 2025, https://tokenminds.co/blog/crypto-learning/top-defi-protocols-for-passive-income
How does DeFi differ from traditional finance? – XRPL Learning Portal, accessed September 19, 2025, https://learn.xrpl.org/course/deep-dive-into-xrpl-defi/lesson/how-does-defi-differ-from-traditional-finance/
What is the difference between DeFi and traditional finance …, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.tencentcloud.com/techpedia/101086
TradFi and DeFi | Aspect Advisory – aspectadvisory.eu, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.aspectadvisory.eu/tradfi-and-defi/
DeFi Risks and Security – Cryptocurrency Basics – Telcoin, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.telco.in/support-center/cryptocurrency-basics/defi-risks-and-security
DeFi Regulations 2024: Top Countries, Challenges, and Future Outlook – Rapid Innovation, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.rapidinnovation.io/post/the-global-landscape-of-defi-regulations-what-you-need-to-know-in-2024
Staking vs Yield Farming vs Liquidity Mining – Blockchain Council, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.blockchain-council.org/defi/staking-vs-yield-farming-vs-liquidity-mining/
Comparing DeFi Yield Farming, Liquidity Mining, and Staking – Antier Solutions, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.antiersolutions.com/blogs/is-defi-yield-farming-more-profitable-than-liquidity-mining-staking/
Crypto Beginner’s Guide: How to earn passive income with DeFi – Mitrade, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.mitrade.com/au/insights/news/live-news/article-3-1013725-20250805
A Beginner’s Guide to Earning Passive Income With Crypto – Binance Academy, accessed September 19, 2025, https://academy.binance.com/en/articles/a-beginners-guide-to-earning-passive-income-with-crypto
Best DeFi Platforms in 2025: Top Decentralized Finance Protocols for Earning, Trading, and Lending – ilink, accessed September 19, 2025, https://ilink.dev/blog/best-defi-platforms-in-2025-top-decentralized-finance-protocols-for-earning-trading-and-lending/
What Is Crypto Lending and How Does it Work? – Experian, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-is-crypto-lending/
5 Crypto Loan & Crypto Lending Platforms for Instant Liquidity | The …, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.theblock.co/post/370781/5-crypto-loan-crypto-lending-platforms-for-instant-liquidity
How to Generate Passive Income with DeFi? – 101 Blockchains, accessed September 19, 2025, https://101blockchains.com/passive-income-with-defi/
Smart Contract Vulnerabilities and Mitigation Strategies – Nethermind, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.nethermind.io/blog/smart-contract-vulnerabilities-and-mitigation-strategies
What is Impermanent Loss [Explained] – Metana, accessed September 19, 2025, https://metana.io/blog/what-is-impermanent-loss/
www.kraken.com, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.kraken.com/learn/what-is-impermanent-loss#:~:text=Impermanent%20loss%20refers%20to%20a,a%20traditional%20central%20order%20book.
Common Crypto Scams and How to Protect Yourself in the Digital Age – Investopedia, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.investopedia.com/crypto-scams-and-how-to-protect-yourself-11719977
Impact of Regulations on Crypto Markets – Regulations and Compliance – Telcoin, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.telco.in/support-center/regulations-and-compliance/impact-of-regulations-on-crypto-markets
www.mass.gov, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.mass.gov/info-details/beware-cryptocurrency-scams#:~:text=Try%20using%20a%20reverse%20image,be%20true%2C%20it%20probably%20is.
List Of Smart Contract Vulnerabilities & How To Mitigate Them – Hacken.io, accessed September 19, 2025, https://hacken.io/discover/smart-contract-vulnerabilities/
Step by Step Guide to Earn Interest on Your Crypto Without Trading | by Igor Jerkovic | DeFi Koala | Medium, accessed September 19, 2025, https://medium.com/defi-koala/step-by-step-guide-to-earn-interest-on-your-crypto-without-trading-9f8d1af8c186
Top 12 DeFi Platforms to Watch in 2025: Comparison Guide, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.rapidinnovation.io/post/top-12-defi-platforms-to-look-out-for-comparison-guide
Top DeFi Trends to Anticipate in 2025 – BlockApex, accessed September 19, 2025, https://blockapex.io/top-defi-trends-to-anticipate/
Top 9 DeFi Trends in 2025 Every Founder Should Watch – TokenMinds, accessed September 19, 2025, https://tokenminds.co/blog/knowledge-base/defi-trends
Cryptocurrency Regulation: A Guide to U.S. & Global Policies | Britannica Money, accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/money/cryptocurrency-regulation
United States: A regulatory turning point – What the SEC and CFTC’s green light means for spot crypto trading – Baker McKenzie, accessed September 19, 2025, https://insightplus.bakermckenzie.com/bm/banking-finance_1/united-states-a-regulatory-turning-point-what-the-sec-and-cftcs-green-light-means-for-spot-crypto-trading