If you’re at all interested in finances in the modern era — and especially if you’re involved in the cryptocurrency scene — chances are you’ve seen a new class of financial apps crop up: DeFi tools.
And with them, you’ve probably had some questions of your own crop up, such as:
Which DeFi tool is perfect for me?
How do I integrate DeFi into my already complex network of investments and assets?
And, remind me one more time, what exactly does DeFi mean?!
We’re glad you have all these questions — that just means you’re on the right path to creating a diverse and healthy financial life for yourself.
Let us help you with that.
What Does DeFi Mean?
Before we dive into DeFi tools, let’s quickly refresh everyone’s memories on what exactly DeFi is.
DeFi means “decentralized finance” and is a term used to describe financial tools that operate on the blockchain, which is a decentralized database that is most often used to record cryptocurrency transactions.
DeFi tools enable investors to access decentralized exchanges (called DEXs) where people can trade cryptocurrency online as well as “protocols” which are smart contracts that enable digital borrowing, lending, and more.
Because DeFi assets are decentralized and therefore not owned or tracked by any singular entity, early DeFi creators did build in a way to make DeFi transactions public record. That’s where smart contracts come in. Smart contracts are self-executing, coded programs that outline an agreement, just like any “traditional” contract. Their purpose is to make transactions fair and irreversible even when it takes place among anonymous investors.
Learn even more about DeFi from our guide, here.
Why Are DeFi Tools Important?
Decentralized finance is shaking up the financial services industry the same way cryptocurrency did to fiat money when Bitcoin hit the scene around 2009.
The decentralized aspect of DeFi makes services such as lending and borrowing more accessible to people who aren’t able to get the services they desire from traditional banks.
In addition, DeFi protocols don’t exercise custody over your crypto assets. This means that you get to keep ownership over your coins even when doing something like “lending” them or investing them in liquidity pools. This is a valuable concept to inventors who have grown weary of letting “too big to fail” financial institutions control the bulk of their assets.
DeFi tools are so important because they open up a whole new world of decentralized, non-custodial, and highly accessible investment opportunities for anyone who wants to get involved.
Comparing DeFi Tracking and Trading Platforms: Zapper vs. Zerion vs. DeBank
Just like it is with any type of financial asset, tracking the crypto you’ve invested in DeFi protocols is important.
So in the spirit of making that task a little easier for you, next we’re going to cover the points you need to know about a few key DeFi tools — Zapper, Zerion, and DeBank — so you can choose the platform that’s best for your needs.
Zapper: An Ideal Match for Liquidity-Focused DeFi Investors
Zapper is a popular option in the growing world of DeFi tools.
What makes Zapper a common choice are its balanced features that work together to enable users to keep an eye on their entire DeFi portfolio.
Leading features include:
- A well-designed dashboard that provides quick insights into your DeFi wallet holdings, your yield farming position, the status of your borrowings, etc.
- Exchange functionality that brings together a few different automated market makers (AMMs) to help make sure you get a good price when exchanging crypto
- Easy interfacing with many popular DeFi protocols, including Uniswap, Curve, yEarn, and more
And there’s one more feature that makes Zapper stand out from other DeFi tools — its focus on liquidity and yield farming.
Zapper can turn users into “liquidity providers” (LPs) in just minutes by making it straightforward to invest in liquidity pools. Aside from the easy-to-use interface, Zapper also makes liquidity provisioning simple by automating some of the tasks that go into optimizing the asset split between pools.
Zerion: Simplifying DeFi Transactions for Diverse Investors
Zerion is another top choice when it comes to DeFi tools.
That’s because Zerion is an essential platform for investors who want to actively trade crypto in order to diversify their portfolios.
Leading features include:
- Direct connection to the main DeFi exchanges and protocols like Compound, Uniswap, etc.
- Add multiple wallets to a single dashboard so you can see the status of individual DeFi investments as well as your overall portfolio
- A market page that offers access to and info about most Ethereum-based DeFi assets
- The ability to directly exchange tokens
- Transaction tracking complete with detailed metrics and graphs
And while it’s not as much of a focus, Zerion also enables investors to access lending and borrowing markets, liquidity pools, and yield farms.
DeBank: Hardcore DeFi Tracking for the Data-Focused
DeBank is also an exchange/portfolio tracker just like the above DeFi tools.
However, with an increased focus on making sure users know everything there is to know about each protocol and exchange in which they’re involved, it’s the best fit for investors who love the data side of DeFi.
Leading features include:
- A single dashboard where you can track your portfolio through hundred of DeFi protocols and a handful of blockchains
- Deep data and analytics not just on your assets but on different DeFi exchanges, lending protocols, stablecoins, and margin trading platforms
- Real-time value of various DeFi assets
- Easy token swapping
Considering their mission to create more connection and understanding between investors and the DeFi world, we think it’s a great thing that DeBank really helps investors hone in on the data behind DeFi.
Kubera: An All-in-One DeFi+ Portfolio Manager for Diverse Investors
Let us start off by getting one thing straight — Kubera is not quite the same as the other tools on this list.
Kubera doesn’t allow users to exchange crypto, it’s purely a financial tracker.
However, that doesn’t mean it’s underpowered at all.
Kubera is the most complete portfolio tracker on the market. It’s perfect for using in conjunction with your DeFi tools of choice to build a roster of diverse investments.
As an all-in-one tracker, Kubera helps modern investors monitor and manage everything from cash to collectibles to crypto to, of course, Defi assets. This includes the value of individual crypto coins, the balances of your crypto wallets and exchange accounts, and even DeFi assets that exist on multiple blockchains — such as Polygon and Ethereum.
How do we do it? There are several features that make Kubera both a complete and easy-to-use tracking option:
- Custom-built financial aggregation foundation
- Partnership with leading asset experts like EstiBot, Zillow, and more
- Individual stock and crypto tickers
- Spreadsheet-like dashboard that’s easy to add assets to manually
Between all these features, Kubera users can track physical and digital assets and connect to banks, brokerages, exchanges, and pretty much any financial institution — anywhere. (Check out some of the many places where we connect here).
For an animated walkthrough of Kubera’s core features, 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 portfolio so you can keep an eye on your overall net worth, asset performance, and other key elements that factor into the health of your wealth.
To protect and grow your portfolio, it’s important to diversify your assets. And today, that means going digital with DeFi.
When you work with Kubera alongside your DeFi tools of choice, you’ll be able to monitor, manage, and grow your entire portfolio not just effectively but also efficiently. After all, you’ve got better things to do than log in and out of financial portals all day long, right?!
To see how well Kubera will fit into your life and help you with your goals, sign up for a trial or start a subscription now.
Or, you can introduce your financial planner to Kubera’s white-label solution to make Kubera an even more integrated — and even more affordable! — part of your financial world.
