Synthetix is a DeFi protocol that enables the issuance of synthetic assets. Users of the platform can create synthetic digital assets that replicate the value of native assets, such as currencies, commodities, and stocks. These synthetic assets are called Synths.

Synthetix is built on the Ethereum network. In January 2021, in order to reduce high gas fees in the SNX staking and Synths trading process, Synthetix extended its system to the Optimism mainnet.

The aim of the platform is to give crypto investors exposure to assets that do not exist on top of the blockchain. Some of the assets available on Synthetix include cryptocurrencies, commodities (gold, silver, oil), fiat currencies, indices (NIKKEI, CEX, FTSE), and stocks (TSLA).