The DeFi Education Fund (DEF), backed by a coalition of crypto policy groups, has unveiled a proposal to leverage decentralized finance (DeFi) tools to address global poverty, potentially saving unbanked and underbanked populations up to $30 billion annually. This initiative targets the "poverty premium," where low-income households face disproportionately high financial costs, such as remittance fees that could be reduced by up to 80% through DeFi infrastructure.
Global poverty remains a pressing issue, with 808 million people living in extreme poverty on less than $3 a day and 887 million in multidimensional poverty in 2025. In the United States, 5.6 million households are unbanked, and 14.2% are underbanked, often paying up to 5% of paycheck values to cash checks and losing an average of 7.1% of annual income to fees, compared to just 0.2% for wealthier households.
DEF's advocacy includes expanded policy efforts in Washington, where it launched the DeFi Education Foundation and, alongside Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to create a regulatory "safe harbor" for blockchain applications. The group also submitted a formal response to the Senate Banking Committee's draft Responsible Financial Innovation Act of 2025, calling for clear separation between software builders and financial intermediaries, with support from entities like Paradigm, Jump Crypto, Multicoin Capital, the Solana Policy Institute, and the Uniswap Foundation.
A survey conducted with Ipsos found that 42% of Americans would likely adopt DeFi services if privacy protections are clarified, with 56% valuing full control over their money and 54% seeking control over their financial data. Despite challenges like collateral-heavy models and volatility, DEF emphasizes DeFi's role in enhancing financial inclusion, citing examples in Nigeria, East Africa, and Venezuela where crypto networks facilitate transactions and preserve savings.
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