One super apparent thing in the crypto space is that it is increasingly getting more complex and harder for people to keep up. Being a crypto native gives you the upper advantage in the fact that you have seen narratives play out over time and you don’t fall into common traps that new people typically fall into. It is to the point where if you do not have someone to guide you through the space you’re only chance to make the most of crypto resides in chasing meme coins or falling into the trap of thinking ghost projects have legs because there are cults that still support them (cough ADA).

This post aims to help new people and is written with them in mind.

There are many tools out there that I may not talk about but these are the ones I use most frequently to stay on top of things in this ever-changing world.

Information = Money in Crypto

In the Information Age, the expression “knowledge is power” is exemplified to its fullest. I firmly believe that your ability to analyze information in front of you, make inferences from that data, and end up being right about your assumptions is the holy grail of crypto investing. It doesn’t matter where you are from, how much money you start with, or who you know. You’ll win long-term if you can find the right information and put your chips in the right places.

Best Crypto Tools to Use

Here are some of the most helpful tools and software I use to keep me on the cutting edge of the crypto space:

Defi Lama

Data is everything and Defi Lama is a treasure cove of data. I am the type of person who likes to see the bigger picture because it helps me build smaller narratives, see where capital is flowing to, and what people are generally doing with their money. In crypto, narratives play a big role in most projects’ success or lack thereof. I don’t think this comes to a surprise to anyone who has been in the game longer than two cycles.

DefiLama helps me understand where we are in the market in terms of overall sentiment. Being on Crypto Twitter at times is annoying because you just hear people complain that things are not happening fast enough. The only reason I am still here in this space is that my time horizon on making money was longer than others, DefiLama helps me tamper expectations, see how the space is evolving, and come up with my own opinions on how the market is vibing, regardless of CT sentiment.

Centralized Exchanges

Centralized exchanges are going to be the gateway to almost every single person getting their fiat currency onto the blockchain, to begin with. I have always used exchanges like Coin Base or Binance as my means of onboarding my dollars into crypto but there are many other great options to choose from. The only thing you do not want to do is keep your money on these centralized platforms as a means of storing your crypto. You should be learning the ins and outs of storing your money on hot wallets (a self-custodial wallet) or in cold storage like a hardware wallet (ledger).

Portfolio Tracking

As your portfolio grows and your web of crypto activity blossoms, the need for tracking where your money goes is of utmost importance. I use a handful of tools here.

Debank

Debank is nice because it helps me find the money I have on the Ethereum Blockchain. It is super easy to lose track of where things are when you start getting into Liquidity Providing, Deep Defi, and trying out new, innovative projects. Debank is super easy to use and requires no purchase. Just paste the wallet address you want to examine in the tool and it pulls the information for you.

You can upgrade to a paid version but the way I use it I don’t see the need.

Coin Gecko

Coin Gecko is something that I use daily for a number of reasons. They have a nice portfolio tracking product where I add all the transactions/purchases I make with the click of a button. It is not real-time because it does not automatically input information like the rewards I am earning from my farms or lending activity but it is good enough to get a general idea of how much I have.

Coin Gecko is much like CoinMarketCap and makes it super easy to find coins, get relevant information about them, and understand what a project actually does.

Discover Coins

Coin Gecko typically has an updated list of the thousands of crypto projects that are in existence. I am very careful about what I put my time and energy into when it comes to the discovery of new stuff. I have come to terms that I won’t catch every pump and I am totally okay with that, I would rather make fewer investments and be really right about the potential of a project than have 1,000 small wins. My goal is to find asymmetry. I saw this to say that when I discover something interesting on my timeline that I want to further examine, the first place I typically go to is Coingecko to read up on the project, check its whitepaper, and dig into making a choice.

Mid Curving

This concept of mid-curving is one that is weirdly accurate. The paragraph above talks about my process of how I make decisions but in most instances the decision to buy something comes from a feeling. You do not want to overanalyze in crypto because there are so many factors at play. Sometimes the best investments are the ones that seem the most stupid in the moment… do you know how many times I missed out on Godsends of pumps on meme coins because I overanalyzed? The answer is way too many.

Usually, I make a small initial investment into things. Something I am completely comfortable losing. This number has and will change over time as I continue to make more in the space or based on the general consensus on Twitter or Discord Servers.

Block Explorers [ Ethercan, Solscan, Blastscan, etc.]

Block explorers are tools that are incredibly useful if you know how to navigate them. Block explorers allow users to find any and all transactions happening on the blockchain from any wallet address that is pasted into the explorer. It will give you a real-time look at what people are buying and when they did it.

This tool is helpful for a number of reasons. First, it can help you find bad actors pretty quickly if you know what you are doing. Second, you can watch prominent wallets and copy trade if that is your thing. And lastly, you can look at the distribution of coins you are invested into increase or decrease in the largest wallets.

Whale Watching

Here is a helpful video demonstrating what whale watching is if you have never done it before:

Dex Scanner/Trading View

If you are looking to trade or understand crypto charts, DexScanner and Trading View need to become your best friends. Charts tell a story and understanding them just gives you an edge in the market. I do not do much trading these days but I would be foolish to say that its not common and that the skill is not useful.

About 5 years I took a super helpful trading course from guys that were super early in crypto and spent time on Wall Street. That course at the time cost me thousands of dollars but over time I made it all back and some. This course is not live and free on YouTube. Watch the videos here.

Substack & Discord

Again, information is priceless in this space. Here is a list of Substacks that I pay to be subscribed to:

• BowtiedBull

• Arbitrage Andy

• Crypto Distilled

• Defi Education

• Mint Media (Discord Server)

There are many great free resources out there as well:

• On Chain Times

• Bankless (Twitter and Free Resources like Podcast)

I have highlighted in other posts that I made some awesome Twitter accounts to check out. Scan that post to find the accounts and build your connection web off them.

Security

If you plan on being here for the long run, you need to be taking security seriously. I have two hardware wallets and software that is constantly helping me stay safe out there. You work too hard for the money you earn for some lowlife scammer to come by and take it from you.

Kerberus Sentinel3 [Mint Defenese]

I have a complete review of Kerberuslive already. There I go into detail about this software. The TL;DR here is that for the cost of two coffee’s a month, you can have a little robot keeping you safe from malicious sites that are looking to drain your wallet with 99% accuracy.

Don’t be this guy, buy Kerberus.

Revoke.Cash

Revoke.Cash is a crypto tool that allows you to revoke access to your wallets from any project that you connected a wallet to at any time. This is just another layer of security in case a project that you connected to years ago no longer exists and you want to protect any and all assets that they may still have access to. The cool thing about revoke.cash is that they have a Chrome extension and it will tell you what you have at risk with some of the contracts that you have connections to. It is a free tool to use but it can get costly to use when you start to revoke access to tons of projects because you will still be paying gas fees.

If you use a tool like Kerberus, to begin with the need to revoke access to things may be less frequent. That is why I use these two tools in tandem.

Conclusion

I hope this was helpful to some of you who are newer to the space. Crypto is challenging to wrap your head around at times but I encourage you to ask questions, stay curious, and to not be afraid of making bad calls. The moments that I made bad calls were the best teaching moments for me as an investor and now I am at a place mentally where I never thought I would be just 7 years ago when I got into investing in Bitcoin.