Written by: Ignas | DeFi Research
Compiled by: Saoirse, Foresight News
Are you still enthusiastic about chasing hot new projects recently?
I have shared on the X platform that the motivation to pursue new projects has dropped to the lowest point since entering the crypto field in 2018. Even in a bear market, the mentality is better than it is now.
I wonder if its just me? Maybe Im lazy... or maybe Im tired? But it doesnt seem to be the case.
I am now more cautious than before and will no longer invest a large proportion of my portfolio in new protocols.
In the past bull market, capital liquidity was stronger and it was easier to make money, but now the copycat season has not yet arrived and funds are relatively tight.
The risk-reward equation has also changed: although hacker attacks and protocol vulnerabilities have decreased compared to the past, the airdrop returns of most projects have shrunk significantly.
Funds are diluted into a large number of protocols, resulting in a lack of phenomenal explosive projects.
A more intuitive feeling is that many new projects are only at the level of incremental optimization, lacking breakthrough innovation from 0 to 1. This view is also recognized by Mike Dudas.
This phenomenon not only exists in DeFi protocols, but is also common in the fields of L1 public chains and L2 expansion solutions.
Just think about it, why should we pay attention to Krakens Ink Protocol? Or Soneium L2? If there is no innovative design that can truly create incremental value... there will only be a digital game of airdrop incentives and liquidity mining.
In the current information overload, it is increasingly difficult to screen projects worth investing time in. If a similar mentality is prevalent in the market, it will certainly increase the challenges for new projects, but it will also create more opportunities for crypto natives (degens) with a keen sense of smell.
But we still need to continue to discover potential projects that have the potential to become the next Aave, Ethena or Pendle.
The key question is: how do you determine which protocols are worth investing in? And where can you find them? To this end, I will share a series of tools, methods, and information channels in this article to help you locate protocols that have initial momentum. The evaluation dimensions include:
Mindshare (refers to the degree of attention and influence of a protocol or project in the perception of industry participants (such as investors, users, and developers).
Onchain adoption
Smart account application scenario coverage (Used by smart accounts)
In addition, I will list several typical projects that I am interested in as reference cases and present them in the style of this sentence.
Risk Warning: The content of this article is for information sharing and knowledge popularization purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice. Please be sure to complete due diligence independently and make prudent decisions based on your personal financial situation.
1. Kaito
Kaitos flagship portal subscription costs $1,099/month (which drops to $750/month with a two-year plan).
It is worth noting that Kaito provides a free data dashboard that lists the top non-token projects by Mindshare. Although screenshots of the top 20 projects are frequently refreshed, how many of the projects in the top 21-50 can you recognize?
You can visit yaps.kaito.ai to learn about potential projects that interest you.
Take Multipli as an example, it provides income solutions for native assets (such as BTC), stablecoins and real-world assets (RWAs). The project is backed by top venture capital firms such as Pantera, Sequoia Capital, and Spartan Group, and is expected to launch token issuance in a low circulation + high fully diluted valuation (FDV) mode. The current total locked value (TVL) of $70.3 million is in an ideal range: it avoids the potential risks of low TVL projects and does not face severe dilution pressure due to its large scale (although it is in the second phase of the incentive cycle).
Although Kaito is a powerful tool, the industry has questioned whether it may distort the market, and KOLs often endorse projects. If you have doubts about this, you can try the second tool that uses a differentiated algorithm to expand the screening dimension of the Alpha strategy.
2. Dexu AI
Get multi-dimensional information such as mind share, market sentiment, narrative communication, original tweet data, and crypto social (CT) smart account indicators.
Here is a guide to using Dexu to filter non-token projects:
Method 1:
Log in to Dexu AI → Enter Sector analysis → Select Social
Switch to different analysis dimensions: mind share index, sentiment heat, distribution of high-value followers on platform X, etc.
Customize the time period and adjust the data granularity through the slider
Method 2:
Click Projects → Enter the Top Project page
Scroll down to Projects Leaderboard - top 5000
Lower the Seniority filter value to discover emerging projects, and increase the Network ratio to filter out low-activity projects.
For a video tutorial, check out Dexus in-depth guide on the X platform.
Project example: Time.Fun
Two core application scenarios:
1. Paid direct connection to crypto industry leaders: Pay to send private messages to founders and KOLs in the crypto field, significantly increasing the probability of response to high-value communications
2. Demand forecasting and speculation mechanism: predicting and speculating on which characters private message demand will explode
It is worth noting that the Solana team and core members are using and actively promoting the platform at a high frequency. Combined with the strategic investment background of institutions such as Coinbase Ventures and Alliance DAO, its potential airdrop value is worth looking forward to.
3.0x PPL
0x PPL is one of the top crypto tools in my personal collection, but very few people really understand and use it.
This is a social platform that subverts tradition. Although it supports posting functions similar to X, its core highlight is to show the wallet dynamics of the people you follow on X.
While Kaito and Dexu are still focusing on the number of fans and social mind share, 0x PPL has already penetrated the surface of public opinion and directly presented the users real operations on the chain.
Surprisingly, 0x PPL’s wallet association system can accurately match KOL accounts with on-chain addresses. Not only can you see the token trading records, but you can also capture their key actions of injecting funds into the protocol.
If you follow a large number of airdrop hunters, you will be able to see directly the protocols they are actually planning, rather than just staying in the gimmicky discussions in the public opinion field.
We must give a thumbs up to the teams daily iterations: from interface polishing to detail optimization, each update effectively improves the user experience.
Although the team has not yet officially announced the token plan, judging from the maturity of the product, it is only a matter of time.
4. Nansen
Nansen’s versatility is an industry benchmark. I have previously shared a guide on how to use Nansen and other tools to discover “targets with 100x potential” .
In addition, there are two major features worth focusing on:
First, Nansens points incentive system. Points can be accumulated in the following ways:
Subscribe to Pioneer or Professional paid plans
Participate in staking mining on the platform
Invite friends to register
At a time when the InfoFi narrative is exploding, Nansen, as a leading player in this field, deserves attention.
Second, track the flow of funds for popular contracts. Operational suggestions: Flexibly use the screening function
I tend to exclude DEX and liquidity pools (this feature is especially useful if you are an active LP)
Set minimum TVL to $5 million
Limit the contract creation time to 30 days
Example of filter results:
- YielFi’s vyUSD stablecoin offers 16% annualized return (current TVL $32 million, careful evaluation recommended)
- Plasma protocol is gaining popularity but deposits have been suspended
- Liquitys newly launched BOLD stablecoin continues to expand in size (LQTY tokens rose against the trend during the market downturn)
There is also Steer Protocol:
DeFi automated multi-position liquidity management tool, supporting 27+ public chains and 32 DEX (such as Quickswap, Camelot, Sushiswap)
Core advantages:
✅ No need to manually manage centralized liquidity
✅ Improve LP performance
✅ Built-in diversified market making strategies
Financing background: Received $1.5 million in seed round investment from Druid Ventures, Republic Capital, Big Brain Holdings and other institutions.
5. DeBank
Although DeBank’s flagship portfolio feature has been integrated into the Rabby wallet, causing its mind share on the X platform to decline, there are still plenty of excess return opportunities to be tapped with DeBank’s address tracking feature.
Steps:
Visit DeBank official website
Click More → Enter Web3 Social Ranking
Filter the target account to view the airdrop projects it is currently participating in
Finding airdroppers and protocols that match your investment style requires effort, but it is definitely worth it. Compared with browsing the latest hot topics on platform X, it is obviously more valuable to directly observe the flow of investors funds.
At the time of writing, I discovered LAGOON Protocol through DeBank: a Vault strategy provider with a total locked value of $70 million, and 9% annualized returns on ETH deposits. (Note: Please do your own due diligence!)
6. DeFiLlama
Since DeFiLlama is already a well-known tool in the industry, the core techniques are shared directly here.
Patrick Scott, head of growth at DeFiLlama, once shared two practical strategies:
Strategy 1: Accurately screen projects with airdrop potential
Enter the DeFiLlama official website → Click the Airdrops section
Check Hide Forked protocols
(Optional) Add a TVL value filter
Next, you need to check the agreements one by one and select the projects that meet your standards.
Strategy 2: Capture the dividends of popular public chains
Lock in the current popular public chain (such as HyperEVM)
Sort all protocols on this chain by TVL
7. Coincarp - Tracking Fundraising Trends
Although the markets resistance to venture capital (VC) is unprecedentedly high in this round, well-funded protocols 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 the many funding tracking tools, Coincarp is my top choice: it’s completely free and extremely easy to use.
My screening strategy:
Select DeFi in the section
The financing stage is locked in the Seed Round and focuses on the earliest projects
Surprisingly, the number of seed rounds in the DeFi space has dropped sharply recently: only 4 projects in May, and only 5 in April. Fortunately, the reduction in the number of projects makes it easier to study them one by one 😉
Turtle Club Project Analysis
This is a DeFi rewards platform that provides users with additional benefits through cooperative agreements, which can be called the decentralized financial version of cash back.
Operation mechanism:
1. Wallet login (no need to top up funds)
2. The system automatically tracks your liquidity mining/staking behavior on the cooperative platform
3. Earn extra rewards and TURTLE tokens
Advantages:
- Zero risk: funds are always kept in your personal wallet
- Income superposition: Get additional rewards on top of basic income
- Early Bonus: The first batch of users can enjoy higher returns
Supplement: Recommended by crypto bloggers
In this blog post, I want to share my approach to discovering emerging hot protocols.
I didnt mention randomly posting on platform X, after all, everyone does it, and the proportion of valid information is too low.
In contrast, crypto bloggers are a great source of information for discovering new protocols. Here are a few accounts I recommend subscribing to:
Alpha Please: Share 3 alpha potential applications every week. Click to subscribe to Substack
The DeFi Investor: Push new project launches and dynamic updates. Substack subscription portal
blockmates: In-depth analysis of popular projects. Website
The Daily Degen: Pay attention to its New Projects section
The DeFi Edge: Newsletter often covers emerging hot projects and market trends
