A Comprehensive Guide to DeBank: Your One-Stop Web3 Service Platform

What is DeBank？

When it comes to DeBank, many people still see it as a multi-chain DeFi portfolio tracker or a social platform. However, after five years of development, DeBank has evolved into an innovative multi-service Web3 platform. It offers various services including social networking, wallets, data analytics, portfolio tracking, and swap functionality. Recently, DeBank has also launched its Layer2 blockchain called Debank Chain.

When we look at DeBank’s journey, we can see that its development has been expanding and diversifying:

1. Initially, the team developed a DeFi dashboard where users could track their portfolios.
2. Then they introduced the Swap feature, allowing users to directly engage in DeFi transactions through DeBank.
3. In January 2022, Debank launched a Web3 social platform and Web3 ID functionality, enabling users to follow whale trading activities, NFT market trends, and real-time on-chain activities of their Web3 friends.
4. In July 2022, they released Rabby, a browser plugin wallet specifically designed for DeFi users.
5. Later in October, DeBank launched the Web3 communication application, Hi.
6. In August of this year, DeBank announced the launch of its Layer2 blockchain, DeBank Chain, based on the OP Stack design. It has now entered the testnet phase.

Users can access DeBank not only through the web interface but also through mobile platforms such as iOS and Android. According to Google Play data, the Android version has already exceeded 100,000 downloads.

Who Supports Debank？

According to LinkedIn data, the DeBank team currently consists of 14 members, including founders Xu Yong and Tang Hongbo, both of whom have extensive experience in Web2.

• Xu Yong: Formerly a technology manager at the internet company Ele.me, Xu Yong later started a venture to develop the data analysis tool FellowPlus.
• Tang Hongbo: Previously a software engineer at Adways Inc., Tang Hongbo joined Ele.me as an R&D Director.

In December 2021, DeBank announced a $25 million investment led by Sequoia Capital China, valuing the company at $200 million. Other participating investors can be seen in the following image:

DeBank’s Investors (Source: ROOTDATA)

According to the team members’ profiles, as of October 9, 2023, DeBank has been running for almost 5.5 years.

What are the Core Products of DeBank?

Asset Tracking Dashboard

Using a tested wallet as an example, after connecting the wallet, DeBank displays wallet assets, the DeFi platform where the assets are allocated, and wallet asset changes. NFTs, Web3 badges, and posts published on DeBank are also showcased on the homepage. In addition to the asset tracking dashboard, DeBank’s homepage allows users to add off-chain information such as signatures and avatars to their wallets, providing more information about their accounts for others to explore and follow.

Source: https://debank.com/profile

Within this section, DeBank has created two interesting indicators for wallets:
Total Value of Followers (TVF): Represents the sum of the wallet assets of the user’s followers.

Trust: The total number of Trusts (similar to Likes) received by posts and comments in DeBank Stream.

Data Dashboard

DeBank provides various data rankings for users to choose from:

• Web3 Social Ranking: Ranks users based on a combination of their network assets and TVF/follower count. Users can utilize this ranking to find influential accounts with financial capabilities to follow.
• Official Account Ranking: Ranks official accounts created by Web3 projects and builders based on TVF and follower count.
• Web3 Badges: DeBank sends badges to users who meet certain conditions or participate in specific activities (users need to mint the badges themselves). For example, those who received $APE airdrops will receive the APE Airdrop Hunter badge. Users and projects can quickly identify specific user groups based on these badges.
• Bundles: Supports customizable lists of addresses, allowing users to create up to 5 lists with a maximum of 10 addresses per list. Users can utilize these lists to categorize and track addresses.
• Whales: DeBank selects a group of whale addresses (addresses holding significant amounts of assets) to help users track major on-chain activities.
• Protocols: To conduct a deep analysis of on-chain protocols, the default is to rank them based on protocol assets. Users can filter protocols based on the chain they belong to, protocol type, and more. When clicking on a specific project, data such as the number of project users, the amount of assets staked, and asset ratios will be available.
• NFT: Provides real-time NFT data and NFT rankings.

Web3 ID and DeBank Layer2

Web3 ID is a product released by DeBank, similar to ENS domain names. Users can find a standard word with a length of 4 to 15 characters as their ID and mint it after paying $96.

Before minting a Web3 ID, users need to register a DeBank account, which requires the account registration process to be done on a page called DeBank Layer2. It’s important to note that this Layer2 page is not a complete blockchain but more like an asset management contract, supporting user staking and withdrawal. Currently, registration is supported on Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Chain, Optimism, and Arbtrium. Users can freely choose the chain where their assets are located, but they need to consider the Gas fees when selecting.

Source: https://debank.com/account

According to data from Dune, the total number of Layer2 registered accounts has exceeded 272.7K, with most accounts registered after June 2023, and Polygon has the highest number of users.

Layer2 registration user（source: Dune）

Currently, the total deposited assets on DeBank Layer2 exceed $4.1M, with $1.3M withdrawn, leaving a balance of $2.8M. The number of users who have made deposits is close to 80K. Based on this data, we can infer that the number of Web3 IDs minted is less than 80K since minting a Web3 ID deducts funds from the staked assets.

Layer2 Staking Funds (Source: Dune)

Rabby Wallet

Rabby Wallet is an open-source, multi-chain cryptocurrency wallet developed by Debank. It is designed specifically for DeFi users and provides potential risk scanning before transactions to protect users’ assets. It displays the upcoming balance changes before signing a transaction. According to news, in April this year, Rabby Wallet integrated Scam Sniffer’s open-source URL blacklist and introduced three security features: Site community credit check, Site popularity check, and Phishing detection. It helps users verify the credibility of websites by analyzing the listing status of DApp websites on various community platforms, website traffic, and engagement, and whether they have been flagged as phishing websites from various sources. Rabby Wallet currently supports 95 chains and the Chrome extension version has been installed over 100,000 times.

source: https://rabby.io/

DeBank Stream

DeBank Stream is a content publishing platform similar to X (formerly known as Twitter). It rewards users for creating value based on time and attention. Users can earn rewards for their content based on its exposure and promotion during the dissemination process, such as the number of followers, clicks, comments, and retweets, as well as the value of these users’ assets.

In addition to common content publishing (such as images and threads), users can also enjoy the following:

1. Polls: Users can choose questions and options and set criteria for users to answer, such as their assets, TVF, the age of their address, and the number of followers.
2. Lucky Draw: After following the user who initiates the lucky draw, users can describe the specific details of the draw and then choose the amount, quantity, and range of participants.

Stream calculates the contribution of each user to the platform. Whenever an article is published on Stream, Debank creates a corresponding reward pool. During the next 3 days, any user can contribute assets to the pool.

The contribution of each user to the post during these 3 days is recorded to determine the reward they are eligible to receive. After 3 days, the rewards are settled. If the funds in the pool exceed the realized value of the post, the user will receive rewards that match their contribution, and the excess will go to the author. This is similar to “tips” and represents the actual income that creators earn. Therefore, on DeBank Stream, users’ time spent, content posted or read, comments, and retweets are all calculated as value contributions and recorded in their accounts.

Source: https://debank.com/stream

DeBank Hi

DeBank Hi is a Web3 instant messaging software with a user interface as shown in the image below. Users can use Hi to communicate with the users they want to interact with, supporting the exchange of images, text, and emojis. Unlike common communication methods, Hi introduces a mechanism similar to a trading market to facilitate communication between the two parties and avoid harassment from spam messages.

The core idea of DeBank Hi is to consider users’ attention as an asset and to create a market to price this asset reasonably. In this system, when users open the application to receive messages, they are actually casting attention assets, which are represented by NFTs (Attention NFTs). The message’s sender needs to propose a price for this attention asset. When the message recipient opens the application and views the message, they can choose to accept the price and complete the transaction. This mechanism is effectively trading users’ attention.

For example, Alice wants to send a message to Bob. When Alice sends the message, she proposes a price indicating how much she will pay for Bob’s attention. When Bob opens the application and views Alice’s message, he accepts the price, and the transaction is completed. Bob receives the amount that Alice paid for his attention. This mechanism aims to reduce spam messages by pricing users’ attention and ensuring that message recipients receive appropriate compensation.

Source: https://debank.com/hi

What is Debank Chain？

DeBank Chain is DeBank’s Layer2 solution, which is built on the Optimism OP Stack. It has made many optimizations, such as modifying the consensus logic to reduce the data storage gas cost to 100 to 400 times lower than Layer 1. Additionally, it has a native implementation of Abstract Accounts (AA), a simple understanding of smart contract accounts. It provides users with a web2-like experience while remaining 100% compatible with the existing EVM standard.

According to the information provided by DeBank Github, users can now add the DeBank testnet to their MetaMask for interaction. The detailed network parameters are as follows:

• Network Name: DeBank Testnet
• Chain ID: 2021398
• Currency Symbol: USD (the test token on the test network is named USD)
• Explorer: https://explorer.testnet.debank.com
• RPC URL: [https://rpc.testnet.debank.com]

Note: How to add a custom network to MetaMask using basic information, please refer to RPC: The Bridge Connecting Web3 Applications and Chains

According to data from DeBank Explorer, there are already 56K wallets participating in the test, generating a total of 3.167M transactions.

DeBank Blockchain basic information（source: DeBank Explorer）

Competitive Analysis

Although DeBank is a diversified service platform, there are no direct competitors to compare with its Stream and Hi products, as well as its DeBank Chain, which focuses on the social asset layer. However, we have selected three competitors that offer similar services in different categories for analysis.

Social Applications

As a social application layer, DeBank’s Hi and Stream products, we have chosen Friend.Tech as a comparison. The reason for choosing Friend.Tech is that, like DeBank, it requires payment. Friend.Tech is a social DApp built on the Base ecosystem, allowing users to buy and sell “shares” of other users on Friend.Tech using ETH from the Base chain. Investors who hold shares of a KOL (Key Opinion Leader) gain the right to have direct conversations with them. It enables users to buy and sell shares of relevant Twitter accounts, and owning a KOL’s share grants access to their private chat room.

Compared to DeBank, Friend.Tech allows users to monetize their influence acquired from other social media platforms (Twitter). However, in DeBank, users need to accumulate contributions from scratch. The different understandings of social media determine that DeBank’s success requires long-term efforts and the attraction of more valuable users to publish content on the platform.

Social Infrastructure

DeBank Blockchain, conversely, is DeBank’s foray into the social infrastructure layer. For comparison, we have chosen Lens Protocol. The advantage of DeBank Blockchain lies in its native Account Abstraction (AA) technology, which enables users to enjoy more smart contract functionalities when using accounts. In contrast, Lens Protocol serves as a backend product for social media developers, providing modular components for developers to freely combine and build new social products. Lens Protocol offers a more convenient development experience, while DeBank provides more freedom for developers to build projects on DeBank Blockchain, potentially integrating services such as Web3 ID and Data API. In terms of revenue, Lens Protocol currently lacks a clear business model, while DeBank Blockchain has basic revenue sources from network fees, API fees, and more. However, in terms of the current ecosystem, Lens Protocol has already seen the emergence of multiple social applications with a user base of over 100,000+, while DeBank Blockchain is still in the testnet phase without any proven use cases.

Asset Tracking Dashboard

Apart from the social domain, in the asset tracking dashboard space where DeBank operates, there is a similar product called Zapper. From the image below, we can see that Zapper also provides users with asset tracking (My Profile), data analytics (NFTs, DeFi, DAOs), address tracking (List), and address labeling (Curated Lists). Compared to DeBank, the most noticeable difference is that its homepage is a display page for on-chain activities. Users can track their followed users, hot topics, and popular on-chain activities, and can directly perform activities such as swaps and bridges on Zapper.

Zapper Page Screenshot (Source: https://zapper.xyz/?trendingType=hot ）

As of October 10th, Zapper has just exceeded 10,000 downloads on Google Play, much lower than DeBank’s 100,000+ downloads. Compared to DeBank, Zapper is constantly developing its product depth, especially regarding data depth and monitoring on-chain activities. DeBank is not as comprehensive as Zapper in these aspects. However, DeBank’s multi-product ecosystem leads to higher user retention, as users can enjoy multiple services on a single platform.

Outlook and Challenges

Judging from DeBank’s track record of product launches, the team knows how to execute. They’ve been consistently rolling out new offerings, and their latest forays into social and infrastructure tools tie right back to their original asset management and wallet services. Essentially, DeBank has built a versatile ecosystem where users can carry out both on-chain and off-chain activities, as well as tap into data and social features—something most dApps and aggregator products just can’t offer right now.

As DeBank Chain continues to evolve, dApp users on the network will naturally fold into this ecosystem. As the user base expands, the platform’s data and rankings will only get more reliable and valuable, drawing in more projects and influencers to share content on DeBank. This will earn them points, profits, or brand exposure, in turn fueling further growth in the ecosystem. In short, DeBank is well-positioned to kickstart a self-reinforcing cycle of adoption.

Despite having a continuously innovative and evolving product ecosystem, DeBank still faces some challenges:

Intense Competition

As DeBank’s specialized product ecosystem gains traction in both the social and DeFi sectors, the competitive landscape is heating up. Other players are stepping up their game, either by mimicking DeBank’s offerings or by innovating their own ecosystems.

Limitations of Multi-Chain Support

Currently, DeBank’s layer2 staking only supports five public chains, which may not be user-friendly for users of other public chains.

Security Concerns

According to CHAIN CATCHER news, on October 11, 2022, Debank’s plugin wallet Rabby was attacked, and some user assets were stolen. Therefore, for contracts and products involving user assets, security issues still need to be carefully considered.

Entry Barriers

To utilize the social features, users must possess a Web3 ID, which comes at a cost of $96. However, this fee may not be affordable for all users. Furthermore, various social interactions necessitate payment as a result of attention markets being introduced, thereby creating a barrier for ordinary users.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, DeBank has come a long way in its five-year journey—from starting off as just a DeFi portfolio tracker to blossoming into a full-blown Web3 platform that covers everything from social interaction and wallet services to data analytics. They’ve even rolled out their own Layer2 blockchain, aptly named Debank Chain. With a relentless drive for product innovation, DeBank is weaving together a solid ecosystem, aiming to offer a seamless experience for both on-chain and off-chain activities. While they’ve got hurdles like cutthroat competition, multi-chain support limitations, security risks, and user adoption barriers to overcome, DeBank’s ongoing innovation and fine-tuning suggest they’re a force to be reckoned with in the Web3 space.