Exploring User Perceptions of Opportunities and Challenges in Decentralized Finance

This study explores user perceptions of opportunities and challenges in Decentralized Finance (DeFi), a rapidly growing sector leveraging blockchain technology to revolutionize financial systems. By analyzing responses from 267 participants using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the study investigates the relationships between key factors such as user awareness, perceived usefulness, ease of use, trust, and behavioral intention. The findings reveal that user education, perceived trust, and ease of use significantly influence attitudes toward DeFi adoption, while behavioral intention is strongly shaped by positive attitudes and perceived usefulness. Demographic insights highlight young, employed individuals as the primary demographic for DeFi engagement, underscoring the importance of targeted strategies to address usability and risk concerns. Despite limitations in geographic concentration and sample size, this research provides actionable insights for DeFi platform developers and policymakers to enhance user experience, mitigate perceived risks, and improve accessibility. Future studies should expand on these findings to explore broader populations and evolving user behaviors in the DeFi ecosystem.