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Marcus Reid is Research Analyst at Decentralized Finance Publication, covering Blockchain Ecosystems, Layer 2 Networks, On-chain Analytics. Browse their independent DeFi research articles below for protocol analysis and market context — educational content with clear sourcing, not personalised financial advice.
Research Analyst
Marcus covers blockchain ecosystems, Layer 1 and Layer 2 network analysis, and on-chain data. He specialises in cross-chain interoperability, developer ecosystem metrics, and TVL analysis. His research draws on primary on-chain data sourced from DeFiLlama, Etherscan, and protocol governance forums.
Back to aboutRocket Pool is Ethereum's most decentralised liquid staking protocol, letting anyone run a validator with 8 ETH via minipools while stakers receive rETH — a liquid staking token composable across DeFi.
Renzo is a liquid restaking protocol on Ethereum that issues ezETH — letting users earn Ethereum staking yield plus EigenLayer restaking rewards in a single composable token.
CoW Protocol (formerly CoW Swap) uses batch auctions and solvers to find the best trade price while protecting users from MEV sandwich attacks on Ethereum.
Benqi is Avalanche's leading lending protocol and liquid staking provider — offering qiTokens for lending and sAVAX for staked AVAX exposure.
Aave V3 is the world's largest decentralised lending protocol with over $14.7 billion in total value locked across 14 networks. This guide explains how Aave V3 works, what eMode and isolation mode are, how the AAVE token functions, and answers the most frequently asked questions about the protocol.
Compound V3 (Comet) is a streamlined DeFi lending protocol holding over $1.28 billion in TVL across Ethereum and multiple L2 networks. The pioneer of automated on-chain lending has reimagined its architecture around single-asset markets. This guide explains how Compound V3 works, what changed from V2, and answers the most common questions.
Venus Protocol is the dominant decentralised money market on BNB Chain, with over $1.2 billion in TVL in its Core Pool. Originally forked from Compound and MakerDAO, Venus has evolved into a multi-pool lending ecosystem with its own stablecoin VAI and an XVS token governance system. This guide explains how Venus works and answers the most common questions.
Lista Lending is a decentralised peer-to-peer lending protocol on BNB Chain, part of the Lista DAO ecosystem that combines liquid staking, stablecoin borrowing, and on-chain lending. Holding over $626 million in TVL, Lista Lending uses a vault-based system to allocate liquidity across markets. This guide explains how it works and answers the most common questions.
Convex Finance is a DeFi yield optimiser built on top of Curve Finance that lets liquidity providers earn maximum boosted CRV rewards without locking CRV themselves. This guide explains how Convex works, what CVX, cvxCRV, and vlCVX do, and why it became the dominant force in the Curve Wars.
Uniswap is the world's largest decentralised exchange by cumulative trading volume, enabling permissionless token swaps on Ethereum and over 10 L2 networks. This guide explains how Uniswap V3 concentrated liquidity works, what the UNI token does, what Uniswap V4's hook architecture means, and answers the most common questions about the protocol.
Aave is the world's largest DeFi lending protocol with over $14 billion in total value locked across 14 networks. Users supply assets to earn yield or borrow against collateral at variable or stable rates. This guide explains how Aave V3 works, what eMode and GHO are, what the AAVE token does, and answers the most frequently asked questions.
Lido Finance is the world's largest liquid staking protocol, holding over $20 billion in staked ETH. Users deposit Ether and receive stETH — a liquid token that earns Ethereum consensus rewards daily while remaining freely usable across DeFi. This guide explains how Lido works, what stETH and wstETH are, what the LDO token does, and the key risks of liquid staking.