By Kyle Liu, Investment Manager at Bing Ventures
In the rapidly evolving blockchain space today, on-chain data has become a core asset with an increasingly vital role in the ecosystem. From token transactions to NFT minting, every detail of on-chain activity paints a complete picture of value flow. In this data-driven era, on-chain data is much more than just piles of data. They offer a true reflection of market dynamics, user behavior, and the overall health of the blockchain ecosystem.
Marketing studies tell us that consumer behavior analyses discover profound future trends in the overall market. Similarly, in the world of Web3, in-depth analysis and insights into user behavior are of immeasurable value to market participants. Nansen, Lookonchain, and Dune Analytics, as leading data analysis projects in the crypto sphere, not only provide users with profound on-chain data analysis but also play an indispensable role in the development of blockchain technology. This study will delve into the characteristics of these three platforms and their significance for the development of blockchain technology.
On-chain data reflects user behavior. In the world of blockchain, on-chain data can represent identities such as individuals, institutions, exchanges, market makers, and more participating in on-chain activities. On-chain data analysis can provide insights into market trends and user behavior, discover potential opportunities and risks, enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, support decision-making and strategic planning, and strengthen security and risk control. Through in-depth analysis of on-chain data, retail or institutional investors can gain the following benefits at a minimum:
Data support for decision-making: On-chain data provides investors and project teams with an objective perspective, helping them better understand the actual market situation and make wise investment decisions.
Optimization of market strategies: In-depth analysis of on-chain data helps project teams and traders understand market demand and changes, allowing them to adjust their market strategies accordingly.
Improved operational efficiency: By identifying bottlenecks and issues in operations, resource allocation and processes can be optimized.
Promoting innovation and R&D: Providing valuable feedback to project teams, helping them understand user needs, and staying in sync with market and user demands.
Enhancing transparency and trust: On-chain data provides an open and transparent platform for all participants in decentralized ecosystems, increasing trust in the system.
Discovering potential opportunities and risks: Helps identify market opportunities and potential risks, reducing exposure to risk.
Strengthening security and risk control: Real-time monitoring and analysis of on-chain data help detect abnormal behavior and risk events promptly, allowing for prevention and response.
Source: Bing Ventures
Nansen, Dune Analytics, and LookOnChain, leaders in this field, each have unique features that allow them to provide users with unique and in-depth insights. We’ve analyzed these tools to reveal their respective strengths and limitations and explore future trends in data markets and their influence on investors.
Nansen provides a deep understanding of the crypto market through behavioral analysis of over 120 million wallet addresses. It primarily focuses on token holdings, exchange inflows and outflows, and smart contract activities. Through its labeling and alert systems, Nansen enables users to identify market trends and quickly capture investment opportunities.
Source: Nansen
In-Depth Token Analysis
Source: Nansen
Nansen’s analysis at the token level covers multiple dimensions, including changes in Smart Money holdings, fund flows in and out of exchanges, and tokens’ overall market performance. This comprehensive perspective allows investors to understand market dynamics from multiple angles and make more accurate investment decisions.
Source: Nansen
Starting from the market level, Nansen analyzes Smart Money’s trading activities daily and infers their trading intentions (large purchases: potential speculation opportunities; large sales: potential selling opportunities). This helps investors discover promising projects for investment. They can further research projects that they are not familiar with.
Source: Nansen
In the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, Smart Money’s actions are often considered indicators of market trends. Different Smart Money groups, such as “Flash Boys,” funds, and other large holders, have unique trading patterns and strategies. An in-depth understanding of these patterns and strategies can provide valuable trading signals and market insights to investors.
Flash Boys typically pursue short-term profits, and their trading strategies often rely on technical analysis and market sentiment rather than long-term fundamental analysis.
Trading Signals: Observing Flash Boys’ trades can provide clues about short-term market trends. For example, if Flash Boys are buying a token in large quantities, this may suggest short-term potential for price increases.
Risks: Because Flash Boys’ strategies are usually based on short-term trends, following their trades can involve higher risks. Investors need to ensure their trading strategies align with their risk tolerance.
Funds and other large holders tend to adopt more conservative and long-term investment strategies. Their trading decisions are often based on in-depth market research and fundamental analysis.
Trading Signals: Observing the trades of funds can provide clues about medium to long-term market trends. For example, if multiple large funds begin accumulating a particular token, it may suggest long-term growth potential for that token.
Strategies: Fund investment strategies are often more stable and systematic. By analyzing their trading patterns, investors can learn from their investment strategies to optimize their own portfolios. However, as crypto funds often have arrangements with their portfolio projects to receive released tokens regularly, their fund holdings and transfers may not always accurately reflect market trends. Investors need to exercise caution.
Smart Contract and Liquidity Provider Analysis
Nansen provides key metrics such as Annual Percentage Yield (APY) by tracking popular contracts and liquidity provider (LP) trading pairs. This data is crucial for evaluating the potential value and risks of DeFi projects.
Source: Nansen
Labeling System and Alert Mechanism
Nansen’s labeling system and alert mechanism provide timely feedback on market dynamics. By tracking specific labels and wallet addresses, users can promptly receive critical market information and adjust their investment strategies quickly.
Source: Nansen
Nansen AI’s alert system is a powerful tool for cryptocurrency investors and project teams. It helps them stay updated on market dynamics, manage risks, and optimize strategies in a timely manner.
Source: Nansen
Comprehensive Coverage: Supporting multiple public chain networks allows investors to track dynamics across multiple markets, providing a more comprehensive market perspective.
Flexibility: Whether it’s tokens or NFT collections, users can choose and track according to their needs, offering great flexibility.
Tracking Smart Money: Users can add Smart Money wallet addresses to stay informed about their trading activity, thus helping them capture market opportunities or avoid risks.
Label Metric Filtering: The various label metrics provided by @nansen_ai allow users to set alert conditions more precisely, ensuring the relevance and accuracy of alerts.
Amount Filtering: Setting alerts based on transaction amounts helps users promptly capture large transactions and significant market movements.
Source: Nansen, Telegram
Ease of Use: Users can easily customize and set alert conditions without complex operations.
Flexibility: The alert system offers powerful selectivity and operability, allowing users to configure it according to their needs.
In summary, Nansen’s AI system currently provides services similar to bots, based on pre-input addresses or pre-set metrics for tracking, and the user experience is similar to bot-based Telegram notifications. Currently, AI involvement in intelligent analysis is relatively low, mainly based on on-chain activity-related notifications, and it lacks some innovation and competitiveness from the current perspective. In the future, Nansen may focus on improving related products.
Dune Analytics offers powerful SQL-based data analysis capabilities that cover various aspects of the cryptocurrency and DeFi fields. Its community-driven model and open data access strategy make it a highly dynamic analytics platform.
Source: Dune
Community Sharing and Collaboration
Dune’s community culture encourages data sharing and collaboration, providing users with an ever-evolving data analysis environment. Users can easily access and modify others’ analytical dashboards, creating new perspectives that adapt to market changes.
Powerful Customization Features
Dune’s customization features allow users to adjust data presentation according to their individual needs. This flexibility is a major advantage of Dune, making it an exceptionally adaptive tool, especially for advanced users with specific data requirements. Furthermore, Dune Analytics’ comprehensiveness is another key reason for its popularity. It supports data analysis on multiple public chains, offering users a comprehensive market perspective. Regardless of which project or area users are interested in, they can find detailed data and in-depth analysis on Dune.
Ease of Use
Dune Analytics’ powerful features and user-friendly design make it easy to use.
Chart Flexibility Dune allows users to zoom in, go full screen, and select any portion of charts, providing a highly customizable experience for viewing and analyzing data according to their needs.
Fork Functionality Through the Fork feature, users can easily duplicate the entire dataset into their workspace. This design encourages exploration and experimentation while providing a secure environment for modifications and innovations that do not affect the original dataset.
Queries and Code Transparency The Query feature allows users to view the code of any dataset, increasing transparency and enabling experienced users to understand the data’s sources and processing methods in depth.
Search and Sorting Functions Dune’s search feature enables users to quickly search related dashboards and sort them by popularity, bookmarks, and release dates. This significantly improves users’ work efficiency, making it easier for them to find and analyze relevant data.
Code Reuses and Modification Dune encourages users to copy successful datasets through Fork and allows them to modify the code. This design lowers the entry barrier for users, who can start with existing datasets and then adjust according to their needs.
Source: Dune
Compared to Nansen, Dune’s advantage lies in its customizable design for relevant data. Users can create their own data dashboards based on open APIs, providing more freedom, higher flexibility, and greater composability. Currently, many projects choose to disclose their related transactions and operational data on Dune, serving as a data reference for users and investors. Nansen, on the other hand, has formed more “structured” data services that are more suitable for institutional users and beginners. In the future, Dune may introduce a reward mechanism to incentivize developers who create dashboards, promoting the development of the entire Dune ecosystem.
LookOnChain is best known through its Twitter account and for its in-depth tracking of whale wallets. It provides users with a unique perspective on market dynamics, especially on the behavior of large investors.
Source: X
Whale-Oriented Strategy
By focusing on significant whale wallets, LookOnChain allows users to grasp major market trends quickly. This strategy is particularly suitable for investors who wish to follow market leaders. Through LookOnChain, investors can not only access the trading records of these wallets but also gain insights into their strategies and motivations. Such information is highly valuable for investors seeking success in the cryptocurrency market. After all, having the right information and strategy is the key to success in a market full of variables. Therefore, LookOnChain offers investors a unique opportunity to understand the market better and make wise investment decisions.
Deeper Analysis through Debank Connection
LookOnChain also connects to DeBank’s database for a deeper analysis of whale wallets. Such in-depth analyses help users better understand the strategies and market trends of these large wallets.
Each of these three platforms represents different aspects of on-chain data analysis. Nansen provides users with a comprehensive perspective through its in-depth wallet behavior analysis and real-time data updates. Dune Analytics, on the other hand, offers a collaborative and innovative environment for data analysts and programmers with its powerful customization features and community-sharing culture. LookOnChain, with its simple and intuitive approach, enables even ordinary users to grasp market dynamics quickly.
Source: Bing Ventures
Data analytics is an indispensable infrastructure in the crypto industry. Data analysis platforms not only assist investors in making investment decisions but also aid in AML and crime tracking. On-chain behavior analysis is one of the selling points of data-oriented platforms, with the advantage of early discovery of potential investment opportunities and the drawback of risks associated with the uncertainty of investment opportunities. Regardless, the information provided by on-chain data should be used as supplementary information for decision-making. Investors need to make precise decisions based on their own judgment and the actual situation.
Nansen: Institutional Think-Tank
To accommodate various types of users, Nansen offers three service levels: \(150 per month (Standard), \)1500 per month (VIP), and $2500 per month (Alpha). Subscribers can access research reports and project analyses produced by the Nansen team and interact with its professional research analysts.
Source: Nansen
Nansen hasn’t introduced a token yet.
Users can access blockchain data, create dashboards, share charts, and fork existing queries for free. When they need to run multiple queries at once, skip queues for query execution, export results, create more than 1 private dashboard, or remove watermarks, they may need to upgrade to “Plus” or “Premium” plans, which currently cost \(349 per month and \)849 per month respectively. Besides offering more rich features, they also provide more API calls per minute. These premier offerings help to deepen the connections between the platform and its professional or enterprise users. They could potentially transform the platform from an external data provider to a core infrastructure provider.
Source: Dune
Dune Analytics hasn’t introduced a token yet.
LookOnChain currently provides free data analytics to users on X (formerly Twitter). For the time being, its revenue sources include paid users who can access their Pro Channel on Telegram and a split of transaction fees on user referrals to crypto exchanges. LookOnChain hasn’t introduced a token yet, either.
When comparing these three blockchain data analysis tools, we find that Nansen, Dune Analytics, and LookOnChain each exhibit advantages and limitations in different dimensions. Nansen leads in data depth and multi-chain support, Dune Analytics excels in user experience and community-driven content innovation, and LookOnChain has a unique advantage in providing intuitive market insights.
Source: Bing Ventures
Nansen’s technical innovation is evident in its ability to conduct in-depth analysis of over 120 million wallet addresses. Its core strength lies in its comprehensive analysis of token holdings and smart contract activities, which provides users with a holistic view of the market. However, behind this technological prowess is an overreliance on tagged addresses, which may result in blind spots regarding emerging or untagged addresses.
Dune Analytics demonstrates its outstanding SQL capabilities in data processing. This capability not only places it at the forefront of data analysis but also provides the developer community with powerful custom tools, which is rare in the market. We have high expectations for this model.
LookOnChain innovates by directly tracking the transaction dynamics of large investors (whale wallets). This is crucial for quickly capturing market trends, especially in the highly volatile cryptocurrency market.
Nansen showcases extensive adaptability to the blockchain ecosystem by supporting multi-chain data analysis. However, this breadth may lead to a dispersion of focus, affecting in-depth analysis of specific chains or market segments. We did encounter this limitation in our usage of Nansen, as it may not promptly follow hot sectors or analyze data of narrative-based currencies.
Dune Analytics rapidly adapts to market changes through its open community culture and user-friendly interface design. This flexibility makes it the preferred choice for users seeking quick responses and deep insights.
LookOnChain swiftly adapts to market dynamics driven by social media, leveraging the popularity of the Twitter platform. However, it also carries the risk of overreliance on a single platform.
Nansen offers a highly personalized experience with its tagging system and alert system. However, for beginners, the complex user interface implies a steep learning curve.
Dune Analytics earns high marks for user experience with its straightforward SQL interface and rich community content. Its user-friendliness attracts both technical and non-technical users, creating a win-win situation.
LookOnChain provides an excellent experience for non-technical users with its intuitive information display and simple user interactions. However, the depth and breadth of its information may sometimes not meet the demands of more advanced users.
Nansen’s multi-tiered subscription service reflects its deep understanding of various user groups. This differentiation strategy enhances its market coverage and ensures a stable income stream.
Dune Analytics showcases a flexible business model by offering free services and premium subscription options. This strategy maintains an active community and presents profit potential.
LookOnChain complements its business model by leveraging its huge Twitter following. However, the sustainability and stability of this model require further validation.
In response to the features of Web3 blockchain data analysis tools, we have further optimized the traditional multidimensional business evaluation model to make it more targeted. This optimized model, which we name the Onchain Data Tools Analysis Evaluation(ODTEF), places greater emphasis on the characteristics of blockchain technology and the uniqueness of data tools in the Web3 environment. The main evaluation dimensions include the following aspects:
Nansen: An Exemplifier of On-Chain Intelligence and In-Depth Analysis
Dune Analytics: Pioneering Community-Driven and Customized Analysis
LookOnChain: A Leader in Real-Time Monitoring and Market Insights
Based on the above analysis, Nansen, Dune Analytics, and LookOnChain each exhibit unique strengths and potentials in the Web3 blockchain data analysis field. They have varying characteristics in decentralization, real-time data tracking, smart contract analysis, Web3 data security, and business models. We anticipate that Nansen will consolidate or expand its leadership position in the market by extending support for additional chains and enhancing analytical capabilities. Dune Analytics may continue to maintain its leadership position by strengthening its community and enhancing tool functionality. LookOnChain could enhance its competitiveness by collaborating with more platforms and data providers and improving its data analysis services. Nansen: Integrating Decentralized Data Storage and Analysis
With a team of veteran financial professionals, researchers, and technologists, Bing Ventures is a pioneering venture capital firm that backs startups and entrepreneurs driving the next wave of Web3 and blockchain innovations.
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Website: https://www.bing-ventures.com/
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