Original article by: Stacy Muur
Original translation: Vernacular blockchain
My toolbox contains dozens of tools that help me refine market insights, analyze protocols, and confirm market data hypotheses. You may be familiar with some of them, such as DefiLlama, TokenTerminal, or Dune. However, there are many tools that are tailored for specific tasks.
In this post, I want to walk you through 50 great research tools.
I’ve categorized the tools based on their mission and highlighted the best use cases for each tool. Some broad-based protocols may appear multiple times, so keep scrolling down to find the mission that currently interests you.
Lets discover some new tools together and improve your research capabilities!
1. Basics
Fundamental research is the process of analyzing a project to understand its core value, appeal, and potential. It focuses on key aspects such as product appeal, token economics, financing, and community.
The goal is to determine whether a project has long-term growth potential by looking at these factors, rather than just following market trends.
Product Specifications
Below is a list of tools I primarily use to research product metrics, including TVL (total locked value), active users, token holders, cross-chain net inflows, transaction volume, revenue dynamics, and financial data, as well as tools to assess the competitive landscape.
TokenTerminal currently tracks data from over 400 mature protocols, providing one of the most comprehensive analytical metrics. It also provides powerful tools for identifying data trends in Web3 and changes in fundamentals and market attention, both generally and by specific parameters or categories.
DefiLlama follows closely behind, covering over 3,000 protocols. If I can’t find a protocol on TokenTerminal, I turn to DeFiLlama, which provides important data on TVL, trading volume, and token metrics. It also facilitates comparisons of competing protocols and reveals the distribution of power within a specific category or blockchain ecosystem.
Next up is Dune, which provides a comprehensive dashboard for most Web3 protocols, outlining their fundamentals.
Tip: If you cant find specific data on Dune, check out Footprint Analytics. They are very similar in design, but Footprint may have unique data that Dune doesnt.
ZKsync Era Dashboard on Footprint Analytics
When studying Ethereum Layer 2, L2 Beat is probably the best tool, providing comprehensive data on the state of Ethereum rollups. For Bitcoin Layer 2, Bitcoin Layers is the closest tool to L2 Beat.
Nansen is another powerful on-chain analysis tool that covers over 35 networks and nearly 400 protocols. It allows users to track various aspects of networks, tokens, and NFTs, and even monitor the activities of investors and traders. The main drawback is that most of the data requires a subscription to access.
Artemis is a blockchain data science platform that monitors key metrics across projects, including financial, economic, and social indicators. It also provides statistics on specific Web3 areas and has a dedicated section to track developer activity.
2. Release and News
Messari is a very unique tool here that I use regularly. In addition to providing basic fundamental data, its unique advantage is that it aggregates the latest developments, news, and provides specialized research reports. This is one of the few paid research tools I use.
Aptos: A dashboard of breaking news on Messari.
CryptoPanic is a news aggregation and portfolio tracking platform designed to serve traders and cryptocurrency enthusiasts. It highlights the impact of various events on markets and prices. The site enables users to track crypto-related news as well as news from the broader market to assess the potential impact of these events on asset prices and investor sentiment.
CoinMarketCal is an economic calendar for crypto assets that enables users to track key market events. Stay up to date on new coin listings, new exchanges starting trading, NFT collectible releases, and major events and conferences.
Coindar is another calendar tool for tracking projects, assets, and events in the Web3 space. Similar to CoinMarketCal, it also enables users to view the dates of various macro events related to a project or token.
Web3 alerts is a portal designed to receive data and notifications about significant Web3 events. The platform enables users to track new project launches and related events. Investors and venture capitalists can subscribe to receive direct notifications in real time.
3. Financing
Many platforms provide funding data, with DefiLlama being one of the most popular. Here are other platforms I frequently use to discover funding data.
CryptoRank is an analytics platform designed to track a variety of data, including metrics for tokens, funds, and projects. It enables users to monitor funding rounds for individual projects, follow top IDOs and ICOs, and discover current crypto airdrops. In addition, the platform provides a list of ongoing and potential airdrops with tasks and detailed guides, as well as data on token unlocking.
CypherHunter is a comprehensive database similar to LinkedIn designed specifically for the crypto world. It aggregates data about blockchain projects, people involved in the crypto space, and recent funding rounds.
Crunchbase is a website that tracks detailed project information, including funding rounds, key investors, and total funds raised. It also provides insights into employees, activities, and potential contacts to connect with founders.
Crypto Fundraising is a valuable resource that tracks the latest funding rounds, events, and news. It provides information on projects that are not yet covered by other analytical platforms. The site also provides an easy and convenient list of funds, investors, and their contact information.
4. Token Economy
Token Unlocks is a service for tracking token unlocks and token economic data. The platform enables users to filter projects and tokens to analyze their potential. It also monitors token economic data and upcoming supply unlocks.
CoinBrain is an analytics platform that provides both on-chain and off-chain data. It offers filtering capabilities to help users search for newly created tokens. The platform also includes hot lists of new coins, upcoming tokens to be unlocked, and search capabilities across various categories.
5. Project Discovery
Many of the tools mentioned above are extremely useful for protocol discovery and narrative screening. However, there are also some unique, versatile dashboards that can help assess current market conditions and uncover new investment ideas.
ChainBroker is a service designed to track various financial indicators of networks and tokens. It enables users to analyze market conditions, investor activity, and platform participation. The site also offers heat maps in certain categories, providing a visual assessment of the potential of networks and assets over time or in a specific period.
Protocol dashboard on ChainBroker
DYOR is another great platform for tracking the pulse of DeFi, offering a series of leaderboard dashboards broken down by specific on-chain metrics.
Moni Discover is a unique tool that leverages social attention trends to help you identify new early-stage opportunities, from meme coins to infrastructure projects.
6. Trading
This category can be divided into three directions: social and copy trading, MemeCoin trading, and market analysis.
1) Social Trading
AlphaScan monitors sentiment around specific tokens and tracks mentions of coins and tokens on X, showing their frequency on a specific day. It also reveals the potential profits that KOLs (key opinion leaders) can earn by following their recommendations. This information helps assess the trading potential of certain bloggers and communities and gauge the hype level of certain assets.
Cielo is a platform designed to monitor top traders’ trades and gain market insights. It provides necessary notifications and insights, enabling users to track other traders’ wallets and apply those strategies to copy trades.
Scopescan, formerly known as Watchers, is the first product to leverage the 0x Scope knowledge graph. This on-chain data analytics platform is able to create real-time profiles of entities with significant connections. It provides comprehensive data on wallet activity, lists projects and coins ranked by activity and TVL (value locked), as well as insights into fund flows and smart money signals.
Alphanomics is a multi-functional service that helps you discover real-time decentralized exchange (DEX) on-chain transactions and stay updated on current trends. It helps users get real-time insights to discover new asymmetric opportunities, track the strategies of the smartest traders and wallets, and see how they manage their portfolios.
Smart Fund DEX Streaming Data on Alphanomics
2) MemeCoin transactions
When looking for MemeCoin and other newly created trading pairs, two of the most popular platforms are DexScreener and DEXTools. These platforms can help you find the best price, liquidity and activity for a specific trading pair, track wallet activity, and more.
To track down potentially malicious functionality in smart contracts, I recommend using Honeypot (supports Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Base), De.Fi, and SolidityScan.
3) Market analysis
TradingView is a leading platform used by traders worldwide, known for its charts showing trading pair data for thousands of assets across multiple trading platforms. You can customize charts in a variety of formats, add personal notes, and compare assets seamlessly.
CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap are among the most commonly used platforms for tracking market data. In addition, both platforms also provide valuable research centers.
BlockchainCenter is a platform that provides a variety of visualization charts and indicators to help track and compare network data. It enables users to assess market conditions, asset status, and the dominance of specific currencies. The platforms outstanding feature is its visualization charts, which make it easy for even novice traders to grasp current market trends.
Bitcoin Rainbow Price Chart from BlockchainCenter
Glassnode enables traders and investors to predict key trends and turning points that impact digital assets. The platform focuses on premium blockchain and market data, providing unique insights into capital flows, asset fundamentals, and market sentiment for Web3 blue-chip stocks. It offers a variety of economic, financial, and network indicators, as well as research and reports on the state of the industry.
Coinglass is a comprehensive platform for tracking financial conditions across a variety of markets. It monitors crypto markets and other assets, including liquidations, long and short positions, and options trading. Coinglass is ideal for professional traders.
CryptoBubbles offers a unique service that presents a market map in the form of bubbles. Here you can visually track changes in market volume, identify which cryptocurrencies are rising or falling in price, see who holds a certain percentage of an asset, and observe their dynamics.
CryptoQuant is a powerful community-driven market data research platform that provides rich insightful research from the CryptoQuant team and users.
MarketCapOf allows you to estimate the price of a cryptocurrency if it shared the market cap of another cryptocurrency. For example, if Ethereum had the same market cap as Bitcoin, its price would be approximately $10,000.
7. Passive income
Finding and managing the best pool of passive investments can be challenging. Here are some tools to help you find and manage these investments.
Revert is a comprehensive explorer and user interface for AMM liquidity providers on Uniswap V2, V3, and Sushiswap. It helps investors track investment efficiency and analyze data.
Some other platforms that specialize in finding good passive income opportunities include De.Fi and DefiLlama.
8. Airdrop
Although airdrops are not as popular as they were a year ago, they are still a source of passive income for many users. I mentioned CryptoRank’s toolkit for discovering airdrops before. Here are some platforms you can use as an airdrop hunter.
1) Airdrop Hunter
DropsTab is a versatile tool for tracking portfolios, analyzing markets and discovering new airdrops. Its wide range of features allows it to replace multiple analysis tools at the same time.
Bankless provides a service for tracking airdrops and promising projects. It helps users choose projects to participate in and allows them to check any unclaimed airdrops associated with their wallet address.
Alpha Drops is a convenient platform for tracking airdrops in various Web3 sectors. It provides user-friendly filters that allow you to select projects by sector. Each project page provides detailed information about available tasks, funding indicators, and the stage of the project, whether it is in the testnet or mainnet stage.
Potential airdrops tab on Alpha Drops
AirdropsAlert is a website that aggregates current and upcoming token airdrops, providing detailed descriptions of the steps required to participate. You can sort the airdrops based on various criteria, including whether KYC is required.
2) Task: Portfolio Tracking
It can be challenging to keep track of a diverse portfolio across numerous chains, assets, and pools. The following tools will be very helpful in managing your investments on a day-to-day basis.
DeBank is a platform for tracking portfolios and checking wallets. It allows you to monitor all assets in your wallet, track transaction history, view historical net worth changes, etc.
CoinStats is a portfolio tracking and analysis platform that allows users to monitor the status of assets across the market and view financial data from wallets. It provides users with access to transaction history on various networks, including identifying fraudulent transactions against your address.
Arkham provides powerful tools to connect cryptocurrency activity with real-world individuals and institutions. The platform is able to track the operations of organizations, including large institutions and government entities.
3) Research
As a research enthusiast, I maintain an extensive followlist of companies that consistently publish valuable market research, focusing on macro trends, narratives, or specific protocols. In addition to Messari, CryptoQuant, and Glassnode, here are some of my favorite research sources.
Delphi Digital is a research-driven company with a global team dedicated to accelerating and enhancing the development of cryptocurrencies. It consists of three separate entities - Research, Labs and Ventures, sharing a common brand and mission.
Delphi Featured Reports
Chainalysis is a leading blockchain analytics company that provides compliance and investigation tools to banks, crypto companies, and government agencies. It offers a suite of tools for transaction tracing, risk analysis, and data visualization.
