Synthetic Asset
A synthetic asset tracks another asset's price without holding it — on-chain tokens mirroring stocks, commodities, or currencies via collateral plus oracle
A synthetic asset tracks another asset’s price without holding it — on-chain tokens mirroring stocks, commodities, or currencies via collateral plus oracle prices. Synthetix pioneered them: lock SNX, mint sUSD/sAAPL/sTSLA, trade 24/7 with no broker.
Why it matters
Synthetics deliver global access to anything priceable — and concentrate exactly the risks beginners underestimate: oracle trust, collateral reflexivity, and liquidity that vanishes in volatility. When the peg mechanism is “incentives plus hope,” size positions like the experiment it is.
Related terms
DeFi · oracle ·
collateral