What Is DefiLlama? How the DeFi Data Platform Works

What DefiLlama tracks

DefiLlama began as a TVL tracker and has expanded into a general crypto-markets data site. On October 18, 2026, the homepage showed total DeFi TVL of about $88.9 billion. The main sections are:

The airdrops page deserves a caution: it is a list of tokenless protocols with TVL and funding data, not a promise that any of them will distribute tokens. Interacting with protocols to farm a possible airdrop carries ordinary smart-contract and scam risk.

How DefiLlama calculates TVL

DefiLlama defines TVL as the value of tokens locked in a protocol's contracts, priced mainly through the CoinGecko API, with onchain pricing (such as DEX pool weights) as a fallback. Its documentation sets several rules that explain why its figures often differ from a project's own marketing:

• Not counted: unissued or non-circulating tokens, such as team allocations in vesting contracts.
• No double counting within a protocol: a token is counted once, even if its receipt token is redeposited.
• Native staking excluded: ATOM staked to secure the Cosmos Hub, for example, is not DeFi TVL. Liquid staking protocols are tracked but excluded from chain totals by default.
• Bridges are tracked as projects but are not added to any chain's TVL.
• Smart wallets such as Safe or Argent are not counted.
• Multichain protocols are credited to the chain where users deposited.

Because DefiLlama tracks some of these categories separately (liquid staking, bridges) while leaving them out of headline totals, two people quoting "DefiLlama TVL" for the same chain can mean different figures. When citing a number, note the date and the exact page it came from. OBOL's guide to reading on-chain metrics covers how TVL should and should not be used.

Open-source adapters and listings

Every DefiLlama metric is produced by an adapter: a small script that reads a protocol's contracts and returns balances or volumes. Adapters live in public GitHub repositories, including DefiLlama-Adapters for TVL, dimension-adapters for fees and volumes, yield-server for yields and peggedassets-server for stablecoins. A protocol gets listed by submitting a pull request that DefiLlama's team reviews; metadata changes go to [email protected].

The consequence is transparency with a caveat. Anyone can check how a number is computed, but many adapters are written by the protocols themselves. DefiLlama reviews them, yet the methodology for a new or unusual protocol is only as good as that review.

Free vs paid plans

The website and public API are free. Paid plans are listed on the subscription page, which accepts card and crypto payments on most major EVM chains.

Monthly prices are from DefiLlama's Pro API documentation; the subscription page shows the same yearly totals expressed per month. Subscriptions can be cancelled anytime and remain active until the end of the billing period. Students with a .edu email can request free Pro and API access.

The DefiLlama API

The free API at `api.llama.fi` needs no key. Common endpoints include `/protocols` (all protocols with TVL), `/tvl/{protocol}` (one protocol's current TVL), `/v2/chains` (TVL by chain) and `/stablecoins`. Documentation lives at api-docs.defillama.com. Premium endpoints, such as historical token prices, inflows and token unlocks, require the API plan. Before building a commercial product on the free endpoints, confirm the current usage conditions with DefiLlama; custom licensing is listed as an Enterprise feature.

Who runs DefiLlama

DefiLlama's About page describes it as part of Llama Corp, "a collective" that also builds infrastructure, payments and cross-chain tools; the X account for Llama Corp is @llamacorporg. DefiLlama does not publish a registered legal entity, address or management team on its site.

Its governance became public in March 2023, when an internal dispute broke out over a proposed token. The Block reported that 0xngmi, the pseudonymous lead code contributor, and other contributors forked the site to llama.fi in protest, while Llama Corp, whose co-founders the report named as Charlie Watkins and Ben Hauser, denied a hostile takeover and said it had run DefiLlama for three years. Within days, Blockworks reported, the sides settled: the site stayed on defillama.com and the team said "there is no LLAMA token currently planned." Any token claiming to be DefiLlama's should be treated as a scam unless announced through official channels.

Limits of the data

DefiLlama is widely cited, but its numbers are estimates with known weak points:

• Price dependence. TVL moves with token prices; a 20% fall in ETH lowers TVL without any withdrawals.
• Thin-liquidity tokens. A protocol holding its own illiquid token can show TVL that could never be withdrawn at the quoted price.
• Adapter errors. A bug or outdated contract list in an adapter can cause sudden jumps until it is corrected.
• Revenue definitions. "Fees," "revenue" and "holders revenue" are distinct and are easy to mix up.
• Granularity. Hourly data is listed as an Enterprise feature; check the timestamp before relying on a figure.

For investment research, treat DefiLlama as a starting point and cross-check large numbers against the protocol's contracts or audited reports.

Using DefiLlama safely

Browsing DefiLlama requires no account and no wallet. Two products do interact with wallets: LlamaSwap, the DEX aggregator at swap.defillama.com, and ChainList, which adds network RPCs to wallets. Use only the official domains listed below, and never enter a seed phrase on any data or swap site.

Support and official channels

DefiLlama's support page offers email and an anonymous form; live chat is reserved for paying customers, and subscribers get priority help with product, methodology and data questions. The page notes that these routes are faster than Discord.

Official channels:

• Website: defillama.com
• Documentation: docs.llama.fi · API docs: api-docs.defillama.com
• X: x.com/DefiLlama · Llama Corp: x.com/llamacorporg
• GitHub: github.com/DefiLlama
• DEX aggregator: swap.defillama.com · ChainList: chainlist.org

OBOL's assessment of the platform is in the DefiLlama review; other analytics tools are compared on the trading tools hub.