Written by: Ignas | DeFi Research
Translated by: Saoirse, Foresight News
Is the enthusiasm for chasing new hot projects still high?
I shared on X platform that the motivation to chase new projects has dropped to the lowest point since entering the crypto field in 2018. Even during the bear market, the mentality was better than now.
Am I the only one feeling this way? Maybe I've become lazy... or tired? But it doesn't seem to be entirely that.
Now I'm more cautious than before, and won't invest a large proportion of my portfolio in new protocols.
During the past bull market, liquidity was stronger and making money was easier, but now the altcoin season hasn't arrived, and funds are relatively tight.
The risk-reward has also changed: Although hacking and protocol vulnerability incidents have decreased, the airdrop returns for most projects have significantly shrunk.
Funds are diluted across numerous protocols, leading to a lack of phenomenal breakthrough projects.
More intuitively, many new projects currently only remain at the incremental optimization level, lacking breakthrough innovations from 0 to 1. This view is also endorsed by Mike Dudas.
This phenomenon exists not only in DeFi protocols but is also common in L1 public chains and L2 scaling solutions.
Consider, why should we pay attention to Kraken's Ink protocol? Or Soneium L2? If there's a lack of truly innovative design that creates incremental value... only leaving digital games of airdrop incentives and liquidity mining.
In the current information overload, screening projects worth investing time in becomes increasingly difficult. If such a mindset is generally prevalent in the market, it certainly increases challenges for new projects, but also creates more opportunities for crypto natives with keen senses.
We still need to continuously explore potential projects that might become the next Aave, Ethena, or Pendle.
[The translation continues in the same manner, maintaining the original structure and translating all text while preserving the <> tags and specific terms as specified.]At the current moment of InfoFi narrative explosion, Nansen, as a top player in this track, is worth paying attention to.
Secondly, tracking the capital flow of popular contracts. Operation suggestion: Flexibly use filtering functions
I am used to filtering out DEX and liquidity pools (this function is especially useful if you are an active LP)
Set the minimum TVL to $5 million
Limit contract creation time to within 30 days
Example of filtering results:
- YielFi's vyUSD stablecoin provides 16% annual yield (current TVL $32 million, recommended to assess cautiously)
- Plasma protocol's heat surged but deposits have been suspended
- Liquity's newly launched BOLD stablecoin continues to expand (during the same period, LQTY token rose against the market downturn)
Additionally, there's Steer Protocol:
A DeFi automated multi-position liquidity management tool, supporting 27+ chains and 32 DEXs (such as Quickswap, Camelot, Sushiswap)
Core advantages:
✅ No need for manual concentrated liquidity management
✅ Improve LP yield performance
✅ Built-in diverse market-making strategies
Financing background: Received $1.5 million seed round investment from Druid Ventures, Republic Capital, Big Brain Holdings and other institutions.
5.DeBank
Although DeBank's flagship portfolio function has been integrated into Rabby wallet, causing a decline in its mindshare on X platform, its address tracking function can still uncover numerous excess profit opportunities.
Operation steps:
Visit DeBank official website
Click "More" → Enter "Web3 Social Ranking"
Filter target accounts to view current airdrop projects
Finding airdrop participants and protocols that match your investment style requires effort, but is absolutely worthwhile. Compared to browsing the latest hot topics on X platform, directly observing investors' capital movements is obviously more valuable.
At the time of writing this article, discovered LAGOON protocol through DeBank: a Vault strategy provider with a total locked value of $70 million, offering 9% annual yield for ETH deposits. (Note: Be sure to conduct your own due diligence!)
6.DeFiLlama
Given that DeFiLlama is already a well-known tool in the industry, I'll directly share core tips.
DeFiLlama's Growth Lead Patrick Scott once shared two practical strategies:
Strategy One: Precisely screening airdrop potential projects
Enter DeFiLlama official website → Click "Airdrops" section
Check "Hide Forked protocols"
(Optional) Add TVL value filtering conditions
Next, you need to check each protocol and screen for projects that meet your own standards.
Strategy Two: Capture hot public chain dividends
Lock onto current hot public chains (such as HyperEVM)
Sort all protocols on that chain by TVL
7.Coincarp - Tracking Financing Dynamics
Although the current market's antipathy towards VCs is unprecedented, protocols with abundant capital are still high-quality targets for airdrop mining.
I have always emphasized that tokens with "low circulation + high FDV (Fully Diluted Valuation)" are most suitable for airdrop hunters. Such projects have the capital strength to provide initial liquidity for token issuance (TGE).
Among numerous financing tracking tools, Coincarp is my first choice: completely free and extremely simple to operate.
My screening strategy:
Select "DeFi" section
Lock financing stage to "Seed", focusing on the earliest projects
Surprisingly, the number of seed round financing in the DeFi field has sharply decreased: only 4 projects in May, and only 5 in April. Fortunately, the reduced number of projects makes individual research easier 😉
Turtle Club Project Analysis
This is a DeFi rewards platform that provides additional yields for users through cooperative protocols, essentially a "decentralized financial version of cash back".
Operating mechanism:
1. Wallet login (no fund deposit required)
2. System automatically tracks your liquidity mining/staking activities on partner platforms
3. Earn additional rewards and TURTLE tokens
Advantages:
- Zero risk: Funds always remain in personal wallet
- Yield stacking: Obtain additional rewards on top of base yield
- Early benefits: First batch of users can enjoy higher returns
Supplement: Crypto Blogger Recommendations
In this blog, I want to share my method of discovering emerging hot protocols.
I didn't mention randomly scrolling through posts on X platform, as everyone does this, and the proportion of effective information is extremely low.
In comparison, crypto bloggers are high-quality sources for discovering new protocols. Here are the accounts I recommend subscribing to:
Alpha Please: Shares 3 alpha potential applications weekly. Click to subscribe to Substack
The DeFi Investor: Pushes new project launches and dynamic updates. Substack subscription entrance
blockmates: Deeply breaks down hot projects. Website
The Daily Degen: Focus on its "New Projects" section
The DeFi Edge: Newsletter often covers emerging hot projects and market dynamics
