DeFi · Growth · Strategy
The DeFi growth playbook: what actually works in 2025
What I have learned supporting growth for five DeFi projects across four networks: what to build first, which channels to prioritise, and where most projects waste their budget.
I have worked on growth for DeFi protocols on Linea, zkSync, Scroll and Solana. The products differ and so do the chains, but what drives TVL, acquisition and retention is surprisingly consistent.
Positioning before distribution
Most DeFi projects want to start with X campaigns and KOL partnerships. I push back. Until you know exactly who the product is for and how it differs from the 50 other yield aggregators, content marketing is just noise.
Answer these first. Who is the most valuable person you could serve? What does their day look like? What do they read? What have they already tried and rejected?
The three audiences in every DeFi launch
- Degens. High-risk, high-yield seekers. They arrive fast and leave fast. Useful for bootstrapping TVL, unreliable for long-term metrics.
- Protocol-aware users. They understand the technology, read the docs and make reasoned decisions. They become your best word-of-mouth advocates.
- Institutional and whale allocators. Slower to move, but they bring capital that deepens liquidity and gives the protocol credibility with everyone else.
Each group needs its own message and its own channels. Projects that speak to all three at once usually reach none of them.
The channels that convert
X: awareness and thought leadership. High effort, slow return. Essential for credibility, but do not expect direct conversions.
Telegram: the community's home, the announcement channel and direct support. This is where trust is built and kept.
Discord: developer relations, power users and governance. Invest here only if the product is complex enough to need it.
DefiLlama and Dune Analytics: your best referral channel. Showing up in TVL rankings and open dashboards brings highly qualified traffic.
On partnerships
At MultiFarm I secured 350+ partnerships across wallets, CEXs, DEXs, infrastructure providers and payment processors. The ones that created the most value were integrations with wallets and aggregators that put the protocol in front of users at the moment they allocate capital. KOL partnerships generated attention. Wallet integrations generated TVL.
Run the partnership pipeline like a sales funnel. Qualify hard, move fast on the ones that fit, and agree what success looks like for both sides before anyone signs.