Glossary
Synthetix
A DeFi protocol issuing synthetic assets ("Synths") backed by over-collateralized SNX, with global debt-pool accounting everyone collectively underwrites.
Synthetix lets users mint synthetic assets — sUSD, sETH, sBTC, and historically synthetic stocks and forex — by staking SNX as over-collateral. Every staker is exposed to the protocol's global debt pool: as Synth prices move, each staker's share of the debt moves with them.
Synthetix v3 generalizes the design into a programmable collateral / liquidity primitive other protocols (Kwenta, Polynomial, Lyra) build on top of. The model is one of the more ambitious financial primitives in DeFi.