A liquidity pool is a collection of crypto assets locked in a smart contract. It lets users trade, borrow, lend, or use DeFi services without a traditional order book.

Who supplies liquidity?

Users called liquidity providers deposit assets into a pool. In return, they may earn a share of trading fees or other rewards.

Risks of liquidity pools

Liquidity providers can face impermanent loss, smart contract bugs, token crashes, and changing reward rates. A pool with a high advertised yield can still lose money.

Liquidity pools are central to many decentralized exchanges and yield farming strategies.