Current track
Foundations
The first primitives — AMMs, CDPs, money markets.
Uniswap v2
Constant-product AMM (x·y=k) — the passive market maker every DEX descends from.
TradFi: Continuous-quote market maker
MakerDAO
CDP-backed DAI stablecoin. On-chain repo desk with code-enforced margin calls.
TradFi: Collateralized repo + currency board
Compound
Algorithmic money market — interest rates set purely by pool utilization.
TradFi: Money market fund, rate set by utilization
Aave v1
Pooled lending + flash loans: uncollateralized atomic credit, repaid or reverted.
TradFi: Prime broker + intraday credit line
TradFi ⇄ DeFi Primitives Reference
The Rosetta stone: every DeFi primitive mapped to its TradFi equivalent, with the differences made explicit.