DeFi Concept Tokens Surge: A Quick Overview of Popular Projects
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Introduction: Since gaining popularity in the summer of 2020, DeFi concept tokens have garnered significant attention from investors. As the liquidity mining frenzy has subsided, a batch of high-quality projects that have withstood the test of time have emerged. Following DeFi, trends like NFTs and Meme coins have sequentially taken the spotlight. This article will comprehensively review the focal projects of recent years.
What is DeFi, What Are DeFi Concept Tokens
DeFi, generally translated as "decentralized finance," enables users to access a range of financial services such as lending and trading without relying on centralized entities. These financial services are provided by decentralized applications (dApps) that run on blockchains in the form of code. Currently, most DeFi projects are deployed on the Ethereum public chain. DeFi has now expanded into lending, derivatives, stablecoins, insurance, and multiple other areas. As of October 14, the total market capitalization of DeFi concept tokens in the crypto market has reached $135.79 billion.
Currently, the DeFi tokens with the highest total market capitalization include: LUNA, UNI, LINK, AAVE, MKR, RUNE, and others.
LUNA: LUNA is the platform token of the algorithmic stablecoin platform Terra, used for the issuance of stablecoins (Terra SDTs), providing stability and security for miners. Similar stablecoin projects include FEI, AMPL, and others.
UNI: The incentive token of Uniswap, a decentralized trading platform on the Ethereum public chain. Uniswap is the leader among decentralized trading platforms, aiming to establish a trustless, highly decentralized financial infrastructure. Tokens of the same type as UNI include SUSHI, CRV, 1inch, and others.
LINK: Chainlink is an oracle network based on the Ethereum blockchain and is the leading project among oracles, aiming to provide smart contracts with verifiable real-world data. An oracle acts like a bridge that can transmit information systems from off-chain to on-chain, serving as a channel connecting the virtual world with the real world.
AAVE: Aave is an open-source non-custodial lending protocol running on the Ethereum chain, providing users with deposit and lending services, where interest rates for both lenders and borrowers can switch between floating and stable rates. Similar tokens include COMP, MKR, and others.
What is NFT, What Are Popular NFT Projects
NFT, translated as "non-fungible token," refers to a type of token that is indivisible and cannot be mutually substituted. Before understanding non-fungible tokens, it's necessary to first understand what fungible tokens are. Fungible tokens refer to tokens that can replace each other and can be divided almost infinitely, such as Bitcoin. The Bitcoin held by different people is essentially no different—this is fungibility. Non-fungibility, like the world-famous painting "Mona Lisa," is unique because there will not be two authentic "Mona Lisa" paintings in the world. Similarly, there will not be two completely identical NFTs—non-fungibility means uniqueness and irreplaceability.
Currently, the NFT tokens with the highest total market capitalization include: AXS, THETA, CHZ, OMI, ENJ, FLOW, MANA, and others.
AXS: Axie Infinity is a popular game on Ethereum that allows players to collect, breed, raise, battle, and trade token-based creatures called Axies. Each Axie has unique characteristics that determine their behavior in battle. Every Axie is a non-fungible token (NFT) with different attributes and strengths.
THETA: The native cryptocurrency of the Theta video streaming blockchain network.
CHZ: Chiliz is a blockchain product and service designed to enhance fan engagement experiences in the sports entertainment industry. The Socios.com fan engagement platform is built on Chiliz's blockchain infrastructure and uses CHZ as the platform's native token. Socios.com provides official fan token sales for several well-known international sports brands, including Barcelona, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, and others.
MANA: The governance token of the Decentraland distributed shared virtual platform, focusing on blockchain games. MANA can be used to purchase digital goods and services in Decentraland. Grayscale Trust Fund holds MANA.
ENJ: Translated as Enjin Coin. Enjin is an online gaming community creation platform with hundreds of thousands of gaming guilds, esports teams, fan sites, gaming communities, and more, with a large player base. Enjin Coin provides value to these games and communities.
Meme Coin Concept and Examples
A meme can be an idea, an image, or a joke. A cryptocurrency issued by an online community for a particular "meme" is called a Meme coin. For example, Dogecoin's logo comes from the Japanese Shiba Inu meme that was popular on the internet years ago, which gives Dogecoin an inherent viral quality.
The main characteristics of Meme coins are complete decentralization, community-driven governance, no fundraising or team allocation, fair community distribution, and more. Due to strong interactivity and inherent "meme" factors, Meme coins are more easily accepted by young people. The explosive popularity of Dogecoin originated from Tesla CEO Musk's promotion.
Currently, popular Meme coins include DOGE (Dogecoin), SHIB (Shiba Inu), AKITA (Akita Inu), and others. Most of these tokens are named after animals, so they are also called animal coins. Their prices are typically linked to Dogecoin, so they are also classified as part of the Dogecoin concept sector.
Dogecoin is the earliest Meme coin. Due to Musk's endorsement, its price surged. Therefore, many community tokens imitating Dogecoin exploded in 2021. The characteristics of this type of token include extremely large issuance, very low prices, and low investment barriers. Since most of these tokens lack application scenarios and were born primarily out of FOMO emotions after missing Dogecoin, they are prone to extreme volatility—short-term frenzied buying driving up prices, followed by widespread selling when slightly negative news appears.
Cross-Chain and Other Popular Tokens
Recently, due to Polkadot's canary network Kusama slot auction activities, cross-chain projects have also become a hot topic. The ecosystems of the cross-chain duo Polkadot and Cosmos have developed to varying degrees.
Polkadot is a scalable heterogeneous multi-chain framework that uses a relay chain plus parachain form for cross-chain operations, enabling interaction between chains and improving scalability. The relay chain is the core of the Polkadot network, primarily responsible for the security, cross-chain communication, and interoperability of the entire Polkadot network. The relay chain only provides simple services and cannot be used to develop applications. The native token on the Polkadot chain is DOT. Currently, tokens belonging to the Polkadot ecosystem include KSM, ANKR, OCEAN, XOR, PHA, POLS, DORA, CELR, and others.
The native token on the Cosmos chain is ATOM. Cosmos connects multiple blockchains through the IBC cross-chain protocol to form a vast decentralized network. Popular tokens in the Cosmos ecosystem include LUNA, RUNE, CRO, ANKR, KAVA, ANT, CMT, and others.
Getting Started: How to Select Popular Tokens
When selecting popular tokens, you cannot just look at temporary traffic; you must also examine the potential value behind the project. Some projects may experience prices that severely deviate from value in the short term due to hype and other factors. At such times, when market speculation and hype are intense, investors need to be vigilant against being driven by FOMO emotions and greed, otherwise they are prone to chasing highs and selling lows.
When making a selection, first, do not be driven by FOMO emotions; second, thoroughly understand blockchain theoretical knowledge and gain deep insight into the rules and background of the crypto community; third, learn to read cryptocurrency candlestick charts to understand price trends; fourth, read project whitepapers to assess whether the project has value support and long-term operational capability; finally, invest reasonably based on your own risk tolerance and financial situation.
Conclusion: Different popular tokens will appear at different times. Some emerge as hot topics when the project's field reaches a certain stage of development and inevitably enters an explosive period, while others are products driven by short-term speculative sentiment. When selecting popular tokens, we must filter out noise, improve our own cognition, and avoid following the crowd. As the saying goes: proper prior planning prevents poor performance—only with preparation can we achieve extraordinary success.
Disclaimer
This article may contain product-related content that is not applicable to your region. This article is intended to provide general information only and does not accept responsibility for any factual errors or omissions herein. This article represents only the author's personal views and does not represent the views of OKX. This article is not intended to provide any advice, including but not limited to: (i) investment advice or investment recommendations; (ii) offers or solicitations to buy, sell, or hold digital assets; or (iii) financial, accounting, legal, or tax advice. Holding digital assets (including stablecoins) involves high risk, may fluctuate significantly, and may even become worthless. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you based on your financial situation. For questions regarding your specific situation, please consult your legal/tax/investment professional. The information appearing in this article (including market data and statistics, if any) is for general reference only. Although we have taken all reasonable precautions in preparing these data and charts, we accept no responsibility for any factual errors or omissions expressed herein. © 2025 OKX. This article may be reproduced or distributed in its entirety, or excerpts of 100 words or less from this article may be used, provided that such use is non-commercial. Any reproduction or distribution of the entire article must prominently state: "This article is copyrighted © 2025 OKX, used with permission." Permitted excerpts must cite the article name and include attribution, for example "Article Name, [Author Name (if applicable)], © 2025 OKX". Some content may be generated or assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Derivative works or other uses of this article are not permitted.
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