AI Summary
Show More
Quickly grasp the article's content and gauge market sentiment in just 30 seconds!
Since 2020, decentralized finance (DeFi) has been one of the fastest-growing segments of the financial sector. The idea is that bypassing a traditional bank or other financial middlemen makes it easier for everyone to access the money that they need at any given time. Furthermore, removing traditional financial institutions from the picture can provide greater transparency and reduce the cost of obtaining a loan or engaging in other transactions.
Key Takeaways:
DefiLlama is a data analytic platform that allows you to get information about hundreds of digital coins and tokens in one place.
The information is open source, which means that it’s free to view for anyone who has an internet connection.
This service is available free of advertising or other sponsorships, which provides a greater level of transparency.
DefiLlama is a total value locked (TVL) data aggregator analytics platform that you can use to find important data about a variety of projects, such as Ethereum, Tron and BSC. For instance, you can learn more about stablecoins associated with these projects, as well as transaction volumes and the amounts of money raised for them.
You can also find the TVL of major and minor oracles and forks that you might be interested in. An oracle is a sort of connection between information that’s available on a blockchain and info that’s often only made available outside of that chain. A fork occurs when open-source code is modified or whenever a blockchain needs to be split into two different paths.
Finally, you can use this service to find information about token usage, as well as any expenses that the token may have incurred. This is important because a token that hasn't been widely adopted may be harder to use or liquidate, as compared to one that has a higher level of adoption. Of course, the ability to discover obscure projects may help you find one you’re passionate about that you might not have heard about elsewhere.
Anyone who’s interested in learning about different protocols without having to do hours of research will want to use this platform. Although DeFi has become popular because of its lack of centralization, this also means that thousands of projects are on the market today. As with any other venture, these projects tend to have different missions, goals and target audiences.
Thus, in order to find something you’re interested in, you have to find a specific blockchain and then research its information. With DefiLlama, you can check and compare all of the blockchains in one location, which can save a lot of time and frustration.
Using a data aggregator may also be worthwhile if you’re an academic or are trying to do market research prior to launching your own coin or token. Since DefiLlama’s site offers information about projects of almost any size, you can get a good idea in terms of what to expect when your project is starting out and growing. You’ll also have a better idea of how much money you'll need to raise, or how many users you'll need to reach your goals.
Finally, use this site if you want to find transparent and accurate information. Although other data aggregation sites are available, they may have sponsors or get their data from sources that might limit how the information can be used. As DefiLlama data is derived from public sources, you can trust that you're getting an accurate and objective representation of the market as it stands today.
DefiLlama checks roughly 80 Layer 1 blockchains to find the public data it posts. It also follows hundreds of apps containing data on hundreds of blockchains, as well as other projects those in the DeFi space may be interested in. The service also partners with other data collectors to ensure that its information is as accurate and timely as possible.
Generally speaking, DefiLlama obtains access to the APIs of blockchains that don't require permission to access their data. Therefore, whenever information on a blockchain is updated, the new information can be sent directly to DefiLlama's website.
Using DefiLlama is a fairly straightforward process. After making your way to the platform's website, you’ll see a variety of tabs along the side of the screen. These tabs allow you to navigate to specific blockchains, oracles or forks. You can also look up data surrounding non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a form of token that usually takes the form of photographs, artwork, music or something else that exists in the real world.
There are also tabs that allow you to filter by governance rules, liquidity or other criteria that you find the most relevant. You can learn more about whether a coin or token uses a liquid staking protocol, which requires you to use your own money to fund a project, but lets you retain access to the money you use to do so.
After clicking on your preferred filter, you’ll be taken to a page that shows that project's TLV in graph form. You’ll then have access to various other tabs that allow you to further filter the extensive amount of data available.
Among the other interesting portions of the site is a DefiLlama swap section, which is essentially a token or coin exchange calculator. The key difference here is that you can actually follow through with the transaction by connecting your digital currency wallet. In addition, the page will help you calculate slippage and other costs that might be associated with your transaction.
Essentially, if you have an internet connection and the ability to click on your mousepad, you’ll be able to use DefiLlama’s site from the moment you access it. If you prefer a mobile device to a computer, DefiLlama can also be accessed on smartphones and tablets.
It may also be possible to import data directly to your computer, tablet or smartphone, which allows you to further distill it on your own terms, and to create custom graphs and charts to aid in your analysis. Since DefiLlama's data is free to use and available to anyone who wants it, you don't have to worry about violating anyone's intellectual rights by taking such actions.
On DefiLlama's website, there’s a disclaimer stating that they don't audit the information that they make available. Therefore, there’s no way to truly know if what you’re reading is accurate. However, there are several reasons to believe that what you’re seeing is an objective, transparent and accurate representation of a given blockchain, token or coin.
First, the information that you see on the site can be independently verified. Therefore, if you think there’s an error with the data, you can compare what’s presented to what the blockchain itself says. In fact, since data is sourced from a number of locations, you may be able to double- or triple-check information to determine if there are any errors present.
Since there are no advertisers or sponsors on the site, you can feel secure that there’s little or no financial motivation to trick you. Ultimately, if you discover an error, it’s probably caused by an honest mistake as opposed to some attempt to manipulate you into buying a good or service.
Finally, any entity that’s listed on DefiLlama's site would probably not want to be associated with an aggregator that’s putting out incorrect information. This is because its own reputation could be called into question, which could put the future of its own mission in jeopardy. Therefore, unless you read something from the creator of a coin, token or blockchain telling you to stay away from DefiLlama, you can be assured that what you're seeing is correct.
The DeFi space is only going to become more popular as people begin to realize the true potential of blockchain technology. Whether you’re looking to invest in a specific token, want to create a smart contract, or prefer to get a loan from a person instead of a bank, there are many reasons to be excited about DeFi's future. Ultimately, this means that services such as DefiLlama will also become more popular and important in the years ahead.