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.本研究聚焦于去中心化金融（Decentralized Finance, DeFi）领域中用户对其发展机遇与挑战的认知，该领域作为依托区块链技术革新金融体系的高速增长赛道。本研究通过偏最小二乘结构方程模型（Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling, PLS-SEM）分析267名受访者的反馈数据，探究用户认知、感知有用性、感知易用性、信任度与行为意向等核心要素间的关联关系。研究结果表明，用户教育水平、感知信任度与感知易用性会显著影响用户对DeFi的采纳态度，而积极态度与感知有用性则会强力塑造用户的行为意向。人口统计学分析显示，年轻在职群体是参与DeFi的核心人群，这凸显了制定针对性策略以解决易用性与风险顾虑的重要性。尽管本研究存在地域集中与样本量有限的局限，但仍为DeFi平台开发者与政策制定者提供了可落地的实践启示，助力其优化用户体验、缓解用户感知风险并提升服务可及性。未来研究可基于本研究结论进一步拓展，探索更广泛的用户群体以及DeFi生态中不断演变的用户行为。