How to Do Your Own Research in Crypto? Top DYOR Tips with Hubble and Hello Moon

Note: This article is not financial advice. Hubble Protocol does not endorse any tokens or platforms mentioned in this article.

Key Takeaways

• DYOR is one of the most important aspects of participating in crypto.
• Read everything and communicate with projects to DYOR.
• Using tools like Hello Moon can help users DYOR with chain data.

Doing your own research (DYOR) is an incredibly important aspect of participating in crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi). That being said, the fact that some users might need to Google DYOR to find out what it means shows how difficult it can be to get started in DeFi—how does one begin to DYOR?

Firstly, listening to influencers on YouTube or Twitter is not considered DYOR. Reading a protocol’s documents and contacting members of the community directly, however, is a great way to familiarize oneself with the ins and outs of a project.

This article intends to help bridge the gap in knowledge for DeFi beginners on how to DYOR. The contents of this article might also help stimulate intermediate users looking for additional ways to do their due diligence.

Why It’s Important to DYOR in Crypto

Essentially, if users don’t do their own research, they’re relying on dumb luck not to get scammed. Crypto, and especially DeFi, is an emerging technology representing thousands of projects, not all of them operating with the best intentions.

That being said, there are plenty of ways to do one’s due diligence to vet projects and tokens before participating or taking a position.

Avoiding DYOR can be a lot like blindly accepting a cleaning charge on an AirBnB that’s twice the nightly rate or taking a Blockbuster franchise off of a friend's hands in the late 2000s. These missteps can be avoided by paying attention and doing some research.

There are also no guarantees that when users DYOR, everything will pan out as planned; however, it’s a lot easier to find projects with long-term vision and a goal of serving the community if some time is spent digging through any and all information available to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Read as Much Primary Source Material as Possible

Understanding a protocol’s primary source material is one of the most fundamental stages for DYOR. This material has been created by the protocol itself, and it should explain how the smart contracts, dApp, and community function.  

Getting this information second-hand is not the same thing as reading this material on one’s own. Far too often, users can save themselves a headache just by reading a protocol’s docs and exploring its blog before approving transactions.

Read the Docs

Users participating in DeFi should thoroughly read the docs before interacting with a platform. The docs are analogous to a user’s manual in DeFi, but they also explain what the protocol’s smart contracts are programmed to do as well as how users can interact with the decentralized application (dApp) on the frontend.

For example, Hubble’s docs detail all the actions users can make on the platform with various tokens, and they also describe how liquidations work in multiple scenarios, how fees are levied, security measures, risks, and much more. These docs are constantly updated to answer frequently asked questions and reflect changes to the protocol.

If a project’s docs are lacking information, are unclear, or are always in a state of Coming Soon, then this should raise a red flag. Projects should communicate clearly and transparently with their users, and they have the responsibility to make their docs an invaluable resource for users to do their own research.

Read the Blogs

This might not come as a shock for users reading this blog post, but there’s usually a lot of information about a protocol shared on its blog. Sometimes blogs can focus on DeFi-specific topics, like DYOR, but blogs are also a space where the protocol can share long-form pieces about recent events and decisions made to improve the protocol.

Reading the blogs could be just as important as fully reading the docs. Since blogs are a space where projects can keep their communities informed and explain complex issues that the protocol must face, they can provide a vast trove of information for DYOR.

Join the Community and Ask Questions

A project’s docs might not cover every question one can have about using the protocol. Sometimes, DYOR involves interacting with the protocol’s community on social networks like Twitter, Discord, or Telegram.

These resources can also be used as a way to take a temperature check on what’s been going on in the project’s social spaces.

Talk with Core Contributors

Go straight to the horse’s mouth. Users can find a way to get in touch with core contributors working on the project and ask them questions about anything they’re unsure of while doing their research.

Founders and core contributors from DeFi’s smallest to biggest projects are answering questions and interacting with the community in their social outlets on a regular basis. Talking directly with those involved in the project can yield tons of information.

Search the Chats for Additional Information

Have a question after reading the docs? Someone probably already asked on Discord or Telegram, and an answer can usually be found by taking advantage of the search bar to scan past conversations.

If the chat has been entirely populated by bots and airdrop hunters saying, “Hi,” then disappearing, then that’s a major sign that something’s not right. Legitimate projects usually have real users, and even if a project’s Discord or Telegram isn’t a hotbed of social activity, there should at least be a history of some technical questions being answered.

Follow the Project on Twitter

Twitter has become one of the most influential resources for crypto communities, from Layer 1 blockchains to DeFi protocols to wallets developing better UX and functionality. Yes, Crypto Twitter can be full noise, with influencers pumping their own bags, and some of the biggest egos on the platform, but Twitter is also a source of news.

For Hubble, Twitter has become one of the most successful tools for engaging with the community, and this is the same for other protocols that are constantly shipping. If a project has a major announcement, an upcoming AMA, or launches a rewards program, its Twitter followers will most likely be the first to find out.

Check On-Chain Data to Research and Verify

There are multiple resources for checking on-chain data. Some protocols, like Hubble, are making it easier for users to access chain data so they can follow the crypto adage, “Don’t trust, verify.” In the example below, Hubble has added links to its Proof of Reserves, so users can verify the protocol’s total value locked (TVL) with a third-party chain explorer.

Through chain explorers like Hello Moon, SolanaFM, and SolScan, users can explore every bit of information recorded on the blockchain about any protocol. It can take a little time to get used to finding this information with an explorer, but projects that offer more than hype will have loads of data to DYOR.

This information can include how tokens are moving in and out of the protocol, how many users are frequenting the dApp, and how the project’s tokens are distributed among different wallets.

Hello Moon has also become one of Solana's main resources for DYOR in the NFT community. The granularity of data that can be sourced from Hello Moon's dashboards even goes as deep as tracking wash trading for specific NFTs on top of other metrics like hold duration, unique owners, and whale activity.

The Hello Moon Developer Platform Takes DYOR to Another Level

For more advanced DYOR, Hello Moon has recently released a Developer Platform that is like exploring the blockchain on steroids. With Hello Moon's Developer Platform, anyone can create data streams to track blockchain activity as it happens.

These tools are not just the domain of extremely advanced users, either. Hello Moon has created extensive docs that walk users step-by-step through the process of how to setup a data stream.

There's a lot of data that Hello Moon makes readily available to users and builders alike. Using Hello Moon's Developer Platform, users can create alerts for a host of events pertaining to:

• Balance Changes
• LP Balance Changes
• LP Creations
• LP Deposits and Withdrawals
• NFT Collection Listing Stats
• NFT Primary Sales with/without Collection
• NFT Secondary Market Actions
• Token Price
• Token Transfer
• Token Swaps

So, not only can users DYOR with these tools, the developer community can also take advantage of the extreme DeFi composability of Solana through Hello Moon's SDK (Software Development Kit).

For users who are having trouble getting started, they can visit the Hello Moon Discord for additional help. As mentioned earlier in this article, a protocol's Discord is one of the best resources for DYOR, and the Hello Moon Discord is an excellent resource for taking DYOR to the next level.

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