Understanding how onchain metrics are calculated shouldn’t require guesswork.
Today, we’re launching Methodologies, a new feature on Token Terminal that documents every calculation step between raw blockchain data and standardized financial and usage metrics.
The Problem
There are multiple processing layers between raw onchain data and standardized metrics. Translating raw blockchain data into standardized financial and alternative metrics requires a deep understanding of each protocol’s business model and how its smart contracts record the relevant business activity onchain.
To accurately interpret financial metrics from onchain protocols, we must carefully examine which contracts, events, function calls, smart contract states, and raw blockchain entries are included in each metric’s calculation.
Traditional “one-sentence” methodologies gloss over this technical and economic complexity, limiting their value for serious analysis. Without transparency into these steps, investors cannot fully audit or benchmark the resulting metrics.
The solution
Our new AI-powered methodologies capture every step of the calculation process – from parsing raw blockchain data to aggregating metrics across chains, business lines, product versions, and more. They’re comprehensive, continuously updated, and verified by Token Terminal’s research team to ensure accuracy.
Each methodology is structured into three clear sections:
- Overview: what the metric measures.
- Data sources: which blockchain events, function calls, smart contracts’ state, or transactions are used.
- Step-by-step calculation: how the raw data becomes the final output.
Why now
Maintaining accurate methodologies at scale is only possible with the right infrastructure. Token Terminal’s end-to-end data pipeline – combined with our proprietary Methodology agent – allows us to continuously update and regenerate methodologies without manual overhead. This blend of data engineering and AI makes it possible to document thousands of metrics across hundreds of projects with precision and consistency.
The need for verifiable, auditable onchain data is growing quickly. Institutional players like CF Benchmarks rely on standardized methodologies to power regulated financial products. Project founders increasingly want to serve the same level of reporting transparency to their stakeholders.
Looking ahead
Methodologies are a major step toward our long-term goal: to make onchain data more auditable, standardized, and trusted than traditional offchain financial data – a transparent system anyone can verify.
The best part? Methodologies are available for all users, free of charge.
The authors of this content, or members, affiliates, or stakeholders of Token Terminal may be participating or are invested in protocols or tokens mentioned herein. The foregoing statement acts as a disclosure of potential conflicts of interest and is not a recommendation to purchase or invest in any token or participate in any protocol. Token Terminal does not recommend any particular course of action in relation to any token or protocol. The content herein is meant purely for educational and informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as financial, investment, legal, tax or any other professional or other advice. None of the content and information herein is presented to induce or to attempt to induce any reader or other person to buy, sell or hold any token or participate in any protocol or enter into, or offer to enter into, any agreement for or with a view to buying or selling any token or participating in any protocol. Statements made herein (including statements of opinion, if any) are wholly generic and not tailored to take into account the personal needs and unique circumstances of any reader or any other person. Readers are strongly urged to exercise caution and have regard to their own personal needs and circumstances before making any decision to buy or sell any token or participate in any protocol. Observations and views expressed herein may be changed by Token Terminal at any time without notice. Token Terminal accepts no liability whatsoever for any losses or liabilities arising from the use of or reliance on any of this content.
