Over the last decade, the green shoots of a new economic order have emerged as decentralized technologies challenge traditional financial systems. Decentralized finance (DeFi) holds the potential to transform international business (IB) by offering accessible financial services across borders, disrupting traditional intermediaries, and promoting financial inclusion. While traditional fintech has challenged banks, DeFi operates outside legacy systems, leveraging blockchain technology and smart contracting to introduce a new range of products and services that provide first-movers with an upper hand to both expand their business across the globe as well realize cost savings on existing business. Despite offering advantages like efficiency, transparency, and security, DeFi faces regulatory uncertainties and scalability, adoption, and stability concerns. Our study explores how DeFi can seamlessly integrate into the IB space while addressing these challenges. In addition to offering insights for investors, multinational firms, and regulators, we also lay the groundwork for future IB research in the fintech domain. As the DeFi innovation unfolds, understanding and harnessing its potential can empower stakeholders to engage responsibly and effectively in this transformative landscape.

在过去的十年中，随着去中心化技术挑战传统金融体系，新经济秩序的萌芽已经出现。去中心化金融（DeFi）具有通过提供便捷的跨境金融服务、颠覆传统中介机构和促进金融包容性来改变国际商业（IB）的潜力。虽然传统金融科技对银行构成了挑战，但 DeFi 在遗留系统之外运作，利用区块链技术和智能合约推出一系列新的产品和服务，为先行者提供优势，在全球范围内扩展业务并实现成本节约关于现有业务。尽管 DeFi 具有效率、透明度和安全性等优势，但仍面临监管不确定性以及可扩展性、采用和稳定性问题。我们的研究探讨了 DeFi 如何无缝融入 IB 领域，同时应对这些挑战。除了为投资者、跨国公司和监管机构提供见解外，我们还为未来金融科技领域的IB研究奠定了基础。随着 DeFi 创新的展开，了解和利用其潜力可以使利益相关者能够负责任地、有效地参与这一变革格局。