Hey, you!

How motivated are you to chase new hot projects these days?

I posted on X that my motivation to chase new projects has waned. Probably the most since I joined crypto in 2018. Even during bear markets, it felt better.

Wonder if I’m the only one? Maybe I’m lazy… Or bored? Although it’s not quite that.

I’m more cautious about depositing large % of my portfolio into new protocols than I was before.

In the past bull runs, money flowed more freely. It was easier to make gains, but now, money is tight as alt season hasn’t arrived yet.

The risk-reward ratio has changed, too: while hacks and exploits are less common now, the rewards from airdrops for the vast majority of projects have decreased.

Money is diluted among a large number of protocols. Nothing stands out too much.

I also feel that there are too many new projects with just incremental improvements without real 0 to 1 innovation. Mike Dudas seems to agree.

It applies not only to DeFi protocols but also to L1s and L2s.

What motivation do we have to explore Kraken’s Ink? Or Soneium L2? Without innovative, value-adding protocols… just airdrop and liquidity mining rewards.

Hard to know which one is worth your time. If I’m not alone in this, then it’s tough for new projects but also offers more opportunities for more active degens.

But we can’t stop searching for the few outliers that could become the next Aave, Ethena, or Pendle.

The question is how to know which protocol is worth your time? Where to find them? So, in this blog I’ll share a few tools, methods, and sources to find protocols with already some traction that can be:

• Mindshare
• Onchain adoption
• Used by smart accounts

I’ll share a few projects that I find interesting as examples. They will be marked in block quotes like this sentence.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this post is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as investment advice. Always conduct your own research and consider your financial circumstances before making any investment decisions.

1. Kaito - No Surprise Here

Kaito’s flagship portal costs $1099 per month (drops to $750 if billed biennially).

Fortunately, Kaito offers a free dashboard with top projects by mindshare without tokens.

The screenshot with the top 20 projects is shared often, but how many from the top 21-50 do you recognize?

Few? Then head to yaps.kaito.ai and check those that catch your attention.

For example, Multipli brings yield for native assets (BTC), stablecoins and RWAs. I expect a low-float, high(ish) FDV token launch as it’s backed by Pantera, Sequoia, Spartan Group VCs.

At $70.3M TVL, it’s a balance between not being too low for implied risk and not too high for dilution, even though it’s at the 2nd point season.

→ You’ll get 10% more Multipli Orbs points with my referral code here ( UJJ9V)

Kaito is great, but critics argue that it distorts the market since KOLs are often incentivized to promote specific projects.

If you’re one of them, consider the second tool with a different algorithm to broaden your alpha search

2. Dexu AI

“Get mindshare, sentiment, narrative performance, raw tweets, CT smart account stats and more.”

Here’s a brief guide on how to find tokenless projects with Dexu:

First method:

1. Head to Dexu AI → Sector analysis → Social
2. Experiment with different analytics sectors: Mindshare, sentiment, X smart followers etc.
3. Choose different time periods & zoom in/out with a slider

Second method:

1. Go to Projects → Top Projects
2. Scroll down to Projects Leaderboard - top 5000
3. Adjust the “Seniority” filter to a lower % to find newer projects, and increase the “Network” percentage to filter out low-engagement projects.

For a detailed video tutorial check this post on X by Dexu here.

Project example: Time.Fun

Two stand out use cases:

1. Pay to send direct message to crypto founders, KOLs, with higher reply rate
2. Speculate on which person will see higher demand for DMs.

I bet an airdrop will be good as Solana team/founders use and promote it actively. Backed by Coinbase Ventures, Alliance DAO etc.

→ Feel free to reach out to me and try the app! Be sure to use my invitation code here.

3. 0xPPL - Most Under the Radar Crypto Tool

0xPPL is one of my favorite crypto tools, yet few people seem to know about it or use it.

It’s a social media platform, but instead of just X-style posts (which are available), you see what people you follow on X are doing with their wallets.

While Kaito and Dexu focus on followers and social mindshare, 0xPPL shows what they’re doing with their wallets.

To my surprise, 0xPPL’s wallet searchers have done a great job linking wallets with KOLs.

Most transactions are buys/sells of tokens but you’ll see deposits into protocols as well.

Log in with your X account and link a wallet that has a transaction history. You’ll immediately see transactions from the people you follow, so your feed will differ from mine.

If you follow many airdrop farmers, you’ll gain exposure to the protocols they are actually investing in, rather than just discussing for attention.

I want to add that I can clearly see the team’s daily efforts to enhance the app. Everything is polished, and they focus on small details to improve the experience.

→ Create account (iOS app or browser) using my invitation link!

I’m not sure if they’ll ever launch a token, but it is likely.

4. Nansen - Hot Contracts

Nansen is great for multiple features. I shared my guide how to find 100x gems using Nansen and other tools in the past.

Yet there are two other features I like:

First, Nansen launched points program. You earn points for 1) subscribing for Pioneer or Professional, 2) staking with Nansen, and 3) referring friends.

InfoFi narrative is hot and Nansen is an established player in the space.

→ Get 10% discount with my referral code here.

Secondly, you can find where the money flows with the hot contract feature.

Tip: Play with filters.

I like removing DEXs and liquidity pools (if you are an active LP, you’ll like this feature), setting min TVL to $5m, and choosing contract age to 30 days.

Below you can see the results:

• YielFi vyUSD offers 16% APY on stablecoins (TVL is $32M so be cautious but they offer points)
• Plasma is super hot but deposits closed
• Liquity’s new BOLD stablecoin is growing (with $LQTY pumping while general market stagnates).

There’s also Steer Protocol:

Automated, multi-position liquidity management for DeFi. Live on 27+ chains and 32 DEXes like Quickswap, Camelot, Sushiswap.

Why it matters:

• No need to manage your own concentrated liquidity.
• Higher LP returns
• Loads of market-making strategies

They raised $1.5M in Seed from Druid Ventures, Republic Capital and Big Brain Holdings.

5. DeBank - All-Time Great

Feels like DeBank has lost mindshare on X as its flagship portfolio feature got integrated into Rabby wallet.

Yet there’s loads of alpha found using DeBank profile tracker.

• Head to the Debank Page
• More → Web3 Social Ranking
• Check accounts and see what they are farming right now

Finding farmers and protocols that align with your investment style requires effort, but it’s time well spent. You’ll discover what investors do with their money, which is likely a better use of your time than scrolling through the latest drama on X.

While writing this post and checking on DeBank I found LAGOON: A Vault strategy provider with $70M in TVL.You can earn 9% APY on your ETH. DYOR!

6. DefiLlama - Simple Yet So Powerful

I’ll keep this short but on point as Defillama is widely known.

Here are two tips that Patrick Scott, DeFillama’s Growth Lead, shared with me when I asked for his advice:

• Go DefiLlama → Airdrops
• Toggle: Hide Forked protocols.
• (Optional: Add TVL filters)

Ta-da!

The hard work is checking protocol by protocol to see what fits your criteria.

Another tip:

• Identify a hot chain like HyperEVM
• Check protocols on that chain by TVL.

7. Follow Fundraising (Coincarp)

Dislike for VCs is at an all-time high this cycle, yet well-funded protocols are excellent airdrop farms!

I’ve always said that low-float, high FDV tokens are ideal for airdrop farmers because projects have the capital to provide initial liquidity for TGEs.

Among multiple fundraising tracking tools, I like Coincarp. It’s free and easy to use.

I usually filter “DeFi”, and choose “Seed” for earliest stage protocols.

You can clearly see the main investors, and amounts raised.

It’s surprising how few Seed rounds have been announced recently for DeFi. Just 4 protocols in May and 5 in April.

Well, at least it’s easier to check each of them :)

Turtle Club

Rewards platform that gives you extra yield for using partner protocols like cashback for DeFi.

How it works:

• Sign in with your wallet (no deposits)
• Turtle tracks your LP/staking on partner platforms
• You earn bonus rewards and $TURTLE tokens

Why it matters:

• No extra risk — funds stay in your wallet
• Extra yield on top of what you already earn
• Early users get more rewards

→ Super simple farm with nothing to lose, only potential to gain. Start here using my invitation code plsss: Code IGNAS

Extra: Crypto Bloggers

In this blog post, I wanted to share my process for discovering new, trending protocols.

I didn’t mention randomly scrolling on X as everyone does that, and the insight-to-noise ratio is quite low there.

Instead, independent bloggers are a great source for finding new protocols.

Here are a few I recommend subscribing to:

1. Alpha Please: Shares 3 alpha apps weekly. Subscribe on Substack here.
2. The DeFi Investor: Shares new launches and updates. Substack here.
3. blockmates: Deep dives on hot projects. Their website.
4. The Daily Degen: Check “New Projects” section.
5. The DeFi Edge: Newsletter often featuring new hot projects and market updates.

And, obviously, me!

Disclaimer:

1. This article is reprinted from [Ignas | DeFi Research]. All copyrights belong to the original author [Ignas | DeFi Research]. If there are objections to this reprint, please contact the Gate Learn team, and they will handle it promptly.
2. Liability Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not constitute any investment advice.
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