If you're interested in modern finance, particularly if you're involved in the cryptocurrency space, you may have already noticed a new class of financial applications emerging: DeFi tools.
With these tools, you may have some questions of your own, such as:
Which DeFi tools are best suited for me?
How can I integrate DeFi into my already complex investment and asset network?
And, remind me again, what exactly does DeFi mean?
We're glad you have all these questions - it simply means you're on the right path to creating a diversified and healthy financial life for yourself.
Let us help you.
What does DeFi mean?
Before we delve into DeFi tools, let's quickly refresh everyone's memory on what DeFi actually means.
DeFi stands for "Decentralized Finance" and is a term used to describe financial tools operating on blockchain, which is a decentralized database commonly used to record cryptocurrency transactions.
DeFi tools enable investors to access decentralized exchanges (DEXs), where people can trade cryptocurrencies online, as well as "protocols," which are smart contracts that facilitate digital lending, borrowing, and more.
Since DeFi assets are decentralized, they are not owned or tracked by any single entity. Early creators of DeFi indeed established a way to make DeFi transactions a public record. This is where smart contracts come into play. Smart contracts are self-executing coded programs that outline an agreement, much like any "traditional" contract. Their purpose is to make transactions fair and irreversible, even when they occur between anonymous investors.
Why are DeFi tools important?
Decentralized finance is disrupting the financial services industry, much like cryptocurrencies did to fiat currencies when Bitcoin emerged around 2009.
The decentralization of DeFi makes it easier for those who cannot access services from traditional banks to obtain loans and other financial services.
Furthermore, DeFi protocols do not custody your cryptocurrency assets. This means you can maintain ownership of your coins even when doing things like lending them out or investing them in liquidity pools. This is a valuable concept for inventors who are tired of having "too big to fail" financial institutions controlling the majority of their assets.
DeFi tools are important because they open up a whole new world of decentralized, non-custodial, and highly accessible investment opportunities for anyone interested in participating.
Comparing DeFi Tracking and Trading Platforms: Zapper vs. Zerion vs. DeBank
Just like with any type of financial assets, it's important to track the cryptocurrencies you invest in within DeFi protocols.
With that in mind, we'll now highlight a few key DeFi tools—Zapper, Zerion, and DeBank—that you should know about to make this task easier, so you can choose the platform that best suits your needs.
Zapper: Ideal Choice for Liquidity-focused DeFi Investors
Zapper is a popular choice in the growing world of DeFi tools.
What makes Zapper a universal choice is its well-rounded functionality that works together to allow users to focus on their entire DeFi portfolio.
Key features include:
- A well-designed dashboard that provides a quick overview of your DeFi wallet holdings, farming yield, borrowing status, and more.
- Exchange functionality that aggregates various Automated Market Makers (AMMs) to help ensure you get a good price when swapping cryptocurrencies.
- Seamless integration with many popular DeFi protocols, including Uniswap, Curve, yEarn, and more.
There is another feature that sets Zapper apart from other DeFi tools - its focus on liquidity and yield farming.
Zapper has the ability to turn users into "Liquidity Providers" (LPs) in just a matter of minutes, allowing them to directly invest in liquidity pools. In addition to its user-friendly interface, Zapper simplifies liquidity provisioning by automating certain tasks related to optimizing asset allocation between different pools, making liquidity supply straightforward.
Zerion: Simplifying DeFi Trading for Different Investors
When it comes to DeFi tools, Zerion is another top choice.
This is because Zerion serves as a fundamental platform for investors who actively trade cryptocurrencies and want to diversify their investment portfolios.
Key features include:
- Direct integration with major DeFi exchanges and protocols such as Compound, Uniswap, and more.
- The ability to add multiple wallets to a single dashboard, allowing you to see the status of individual DeFi investments as well as your overall portfolio.
- A marketplace page that provides access to and information about most Ethereum-based DeFi assets.
- The capability to directly exchange tokens.
- Transaction tracking, including detailed metrics and charts.
While not as focused, Zerion also enables investors to access lending markets, liquidity pools, and yield farms.
DeBank: Hardcore DeFi Tracking Focused on Data
DeBank is also an exchange/portfolio tracker, similar to the aforementioned DeFi tools.
However, it stands out by placing a stronger emphasis on ensuring that users have a comprehensive understanding of every protocol and exchange they engage with, making it ideal for data-oriented investors in the DeFi space.
Key features include:
- A single dashboard where you can track your portfolio across hundreds of DeFi protocols and a handful of blockchains.
- In-depth data and analytics, not only about your assets but also about different DeFi exchanges, lending protocols, stablecoins, and margin trading platforms.
- Real-time values of various DeFi assets.
- Easy token swapping.
Considering their mission to foster more connections and understanding between investors and the DeFi world, we believe that DeBank's focus on helping investors sharpen their understanding of the data behind DeFi is a valuable offering.
Kubera: An Integrated DeFi+Portfolio Manager for Diversified Investors
Let's get one thing clear upfront - Kubera is different from the other tools on this list.
Kubera doesn't allow users to exchange cryptocurrencies; it is purely a financial tracker.
However, this doesn't mean it lacks capabilities.
Kubera is the most comprehensive portfolio tracker on the market. It is well-suited to be used alongside the DeFi tools you choose to build a diversified investment roster.
As an all-in-one tracker, Kubera helps modern investors monitor and manage everything from cash to collectibles to cryptocurrencies, including DeFi assets. This includes tracking the value of individual cryptocurrencies, the balances of your cryptocurrency wallets and exchange accounts, and even DeFi assets that exist on multiple blockchains such as Polygon and Ethereum.
How do we accomplish this? There are several features that make Kubera a comprehensive and user-friendly tracking option.
- Custom-built financial aggregation foundation
- Collaboration with leading asset experts such as EstiBot and Zillow
- Individual stocks and cryptocurrency holdings
- Spreadsheet-like dashboard for easy manual asset entry
With all these features, Kubera users can track both physical and digital assets and connect to banks, brokerage firms, exchanges, and nearly any financial institution—anywhere. (Take a look at the many places we connect here.)
For an animated demonstration of Kubera's core functionality, check out our How Kubera Works page.
Between our single-source-of-truth dashboard and beautifully designed charts, Kubera will provide you with a holistic view of your investment portfolio, allowing you to closely monitor your overall net worth, asset performance, and other key factors that impact your financial well-being.
Diversifying your assets is crucial to protecting and growing your investment portfolio. Today, that means going digital with DeFi.
When you work with Kubera alongside your chosen DeFi tools, you'll be able to monitor, manage, and grow your entire investment portfolio efficiently and effectively. After all, you have better things to do than spend your days logging in and out of financial portals, right?
