DeFi Starter Kit
*The content in this manual is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained on this kit constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by the writer or any third party service provider to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments in this or in in any other jurisdiction in which such solicitation or offer would be unlawful under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. I am not officially affiliated with any project or tool mentioned below, I’m just a user/investor.
Getting started, step-by-step — — — — — — — — — — — — —
First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who helped me understand this new incredible world of DeFi, especially my dear friend and DeFi guru HOMOCOSMICO. I followed him into the rabbit hole and it has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life, both in terms of feeding my curiosity and (hopefully) my wallet.
Check out his book named “2048: Chronicles of an exponential future", an incredible fantastic journey exploring the colliding worlds of technology, spirituality, and self-discovery.
Now back to DeFi.
1. Read basic content and security recommendations
2. Understand the tools and sites
3. Gear up
4. Get your feet wet
Learning the basics — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
I put together a list of useful content that helped me understand the basics of the DeFi world. These will by no means make you an expert, but I reckon they are enough to ensure you’re comfortable enough to start interacting with Web3 and DeFi projects.
1. Short read — What is DeFi? (Coindesk)
2. Short read — What is DeFi? (Coinbase)
3. Ebook — How to DeFi series
4. Video — What is Metamask?
6. Short read — A beginner’s guide to DAOs
7. Short read — The Future of work
8. Long read — DAOs, absorbing the internet
9. Long read — Building and Running a DAO: Why Governance Matters
10. Twitter thread — Crypto will eat fiat, but it’s not the way you think
11. Long Read — Sushi and the Founding Murder
12. Book — Digital Gold
Getting started — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Security best practices before you get started:
· Needless to say, keep your passwords complex, not intuitive, and in a safe place
· When opening a wallet, you will be provided a “seed phrase”, always store that safely and preferably offline, in a piece of paper with two or more copies in safe places. That seed phrase is only meant to be used to import your wallet to another computer or hardware wallet, no trustworthy site should ask you for your private key or seed phrase.
· Diversify your risk. Open multiple wallets and never store your entire crypto holdings in one single wallet, this way you can limit your risk in case you get hacked.
· Buy a hardware wallet, these work as a 2FA that can only be verified physically plugged into your computer. Your assets are still online in the blockchain, but you can’t approve a transaction without physically approving it on the device. Always buy from the original site or from an authorized provider.
· Check in on your holdings occasionally, especially if you’re not using an exchange as custodian.
· Run malware checks on your computer every week.
· Enable 2FA (Two-factor authentication) for everything you can.
Ways you can get fucked — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
· Here’s an article with some examples of basic scams to watch out for
· Rug pulls: A developer creates a cryptocurrency or DeFi project and attracts investors to it. Once investors have allocated enough capital to the project, a crooked developer may cash out and abandon the project. This is known as a rug pull.
· Fake ICOs (Initial Coin offerings).
· Phishing: Phishing sites are malicious websites which mimic an authentic site in order to trick visitors into entering their login credentials or other sensitive information.
o Solution: Never google the project’s site and click on the first link that pops up, always verify the website is the right one before granting permissions to your wallet, then bookmark the official site.
· Airdropped shitcoins and tokens: The way it works is that you receive airdropped tokens from unknown address, you then go to the token’s site out of curiosity, and you give permissions over your wallet to the scammers who airdropped you the tokens.
o Solution: Just ignore it and don’t interact with the token. If you want to be extra safe, transfer your assets to another wallet. More details here.
· Asked to enter private key or pneumonic phrase/seed phrase to do something
Useful tools — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Shopping list — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
· New reformatted Laptop
· Anti-virus software
· Cold wallet. Good options for hardware wallets:
Interesting projects and trends — — — — — — — — — — — —
Play to earn — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Short description: Axie Infinity is a Pokémon-inspired universe where anyone can earn tokens through skilled gameplay and contributions to the ecosystem. Players can battle, collect, raise, and build a land-based kingdom for their pets.
Network: ETHEREUM
Tokens:
Official docs: https://whitepaper.axieinfinity.com/
Official discord channel: https://discord.com/invite/axie
Interesting content about project:
Short description: An open-world RPG adventure game built on the Ethereum Blockchain. Journey across a vast and varied landscape on your quest to hunt and capture deity-like creatures called Illuvials. Discover the cause of the cataclysm that shattered this land.
Network: ETHEREUM
Tokens: ILV
Official docs: https://docs.illuvium.io/
Official discord channel: https://discord.com/invite/illuvium
Interesting content about project:
Short description: YGG IS A PLAY-TO-EARN GAMING GUILD, BRINGING PLAYERS TOGETHER TO EARN VIA BLOCKCHAIN-BASED ECONOMIES. WE ARE THE SETTLERS OF NEW WORLDS IN THE METAVERSE.
Network: ETHEREUM
Tokens: YGG
Official docs: https://yieldguild.io/YGG-Whitepaper-English.pdf
Official discord channel: https://discord.com/invite/AWSVhfkVXG
Interesting content about project:
Short description: Merit Circle is creating a decentralized autonomous organization that develops opportunities to earn through play for people who want to help build the metaverse. This is done through the Merit Circle platform we are building, which hosts scholarship opportunities, educational opportunities and everything a person could need on their journey towards being an earning gamer in the metaverse. The Merit Circle DAO consists of a mainDAO governing over numerous subDAOs that function as tentacles all across the Play-to-Earn industry. The protocol is maintained by various independent parties and individuals through governance powered by the MC token holders.
Network: ETHEREUM
Tokens: MC
Official docs: https://meritcircle.gitbook.io/merit-circle/
Official discord channel: https://discord.com/invite/meritcircle
Interesting content about project:
Financial infrastructure — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Short description: Olympus is building a community-owned decentralized financial infrastructure to bring more stability and transparency for the world. Olympus is a decentralized reserve currency protocol based on the OHM token. Each OHM token is backed by a basket of assets (e.g. DAI, FRAX) in the Olympus treasury, giving it an intrinsic value that it cannot fall below. Olympus also introduces unique economic and game-theoretic dynamics into the market through staking and bonding. Read more about the game theory aspect of Olympus in one of our blog posts.
Network: ETHEREUM
Tokens: OHM and sOHM
Official docs:
Official discord channel: https://discord.com/invite/olympusdao
Interesting content about project: https://twitter.com/bork_eth/status/1457402180416286722?t=tJD6TWuNjSkVI7ysx5_5tA&s=08
https://twitter.com/bork_eth/status/1461068364885987333?t=do0uEiWKNp1MKxilPpcwtQ&s=08
Short description: Klima DAO is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization for change. Klima DAO develops infrastructure incentives that fulfill our manifesto, through primitives such as the KLIMA token. As a matter of course, Klima DAO will solve the critical problems of the carbon markets: illiquidity, opacity and inefficiency. In delivery of its objectives, Klima DAO will become the single biggest disruptor of the carbon markets and set a precedent for a new monetary system backed by carbon.
Network: POLYGON
Tokens: KLIMA, sKLIMA, BCT, aKLIMA(now useless), alKLIMA(now useless)
Official docs: https://docs.klimadao.finance
Official discord channel: https://discord.com/invite/kx4pahaFw8
Interesting content about project:
https://twitter.com/ThoughtFloats/status/1460367186724147205?t=SYqaQjGU0XL6mXi_fwRFwQ&s=08
Short description: Wonderland is the first decentralized reserve currency protocol available on the Avalanche Network based on the TIME token. Each TIME token is backed by a basket of assets (e.g., MIM, TIME-AVAX LP Tokens etc etc) in the Wonderland treasury, giving it an intrinsic value that it cannot fall below. Wonderland also introduces economic and game-theoretic dynamics into the market through staking and minting.
Network: AVALANCHE
Tokens: TIME, MEMO
Official docs: https://docs.wonderland.money/
Official discord channel: https://discord.com/invite/thDHseaHUt
Interesting content about project:
Short description: Our initial goal is to help expand the OlympusDAO ecosystem into the Kusama/Polkadot ecosystems while experimenting with new bond types and fresh mechanism design. We are thoughtful from day one on how to best implement policy in a way that creates a positive flywheel for treasury growth alongside ROME supply expansion. We expect an attractive source of yield and reserve currency is a large market gap in the broader Kusama/Polkadot ecosystems.
Network: Polkadot
Tokens: aROMA
Official docs: https://medium.com/@RomeDAO/romedao-whitelist-distribution-guide-3057b706a11a
Official discord channel: https://discord.gg/romedaofinance
Interesting content about project:
Short description: In a world of volatility and instant gratification, the Temple of long-term wealth creation is where Templars come to stake, sleep easy, and chill. The TempleDAO protocol aims to provide DeFi users with a safe haven where they can be sheltered from crypto market volatility while benefiting from a set of investment opportunities offering high yields and steady price appreciation.
Network:
Tokens: $TEMPLE
Official docs: https://docs.templedao.link/
Official discord channel: https://discord.com/invite/templedao
Interesting content about project:
NFTs — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -
Short description: Create, explore and trade in the first-ever virtual world owned by its users.
Network:
Tokens: MANA
Official docs:
Official discord channel: https://decentraland.org/discord/
Recommended bookmarks — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Ethereum Blockchain Explorer — Etherscan
Polygon PoS Chain Explorer — Polygonscan
