This article contributes to the mainstreamdataConduct analysis and research on business models, and introduces detailed information and business model exploration.

With the rapid development of the WEB3 industry, data query and analysis have become the focus of users. The representative information and data service platform is undergoing the test and transformation of commercialization and stands at the crossroads of pursuing self-sustainability.

This article uses six information products including DeBank, 0xScope, Nansen, Dexscreener, Arkham and Dextool, that provide data services, as cases to discuss the choice of monetization path and the platform landscape driven by capital.

There are two reasons for choosing these six products: first, they have a relatively long service time and a relatively solid user base; second, they represent different attempts at current monetization path selections.

Below we briefly introduce the services provided by each of these six information websites, which can be divided into three categories:

• The first category is Debank’s unique personal asset management platform, which can easily manage various assets on your entire chain;
• The second category is professional on-chain analysis platforms such as 0xScope, Nansen and Arkham, which provide visual on-chain data and can actively analyze on-chain analysis services such as smart wallets, large transfers, and project wallet/large user wallet dynamics;
• The third category is line-viewing websites such as Dexscreener and Dextool, which provide line-viewing services for projects that issue coins on the chain, as well as project information introduction services. \

Traffic Analysis

Then we observed the popularity of these six platforms from the statistics of website visits on the independent data platform SimilarWeb, and used the two websites Binance, the leader of centralized exchanges, and Uniswap, the leader of decentralized exchanges, as comparison groups.

It can be found that the monthly number of visitors to DexScreener, Dextools and Debank, the three more retail-oriented services, is approximately between 5-15M. Although they are still far away from Binance, they are not inferior to Uniswap. However, Arkham, Nansen and 0xScope provide more professional services and target more users who are institutions or users who use their API services. Even many retail investors only choose to follow their push content on Twitter. Therefore, they are much inferior in terms of their own website traffic.

This early information data platform specializing in blockchain is building scale by continuing to provide a wealth of tools, and has accumulated a large number of basic users, laying a solid foundation for subsequent business attempts.

Financing information

At the same time, since this type of project that provides information and data services needs to gain popularity with free functions in the early stage, the participation of venture capital institutions accounts for a significant part. Then we refer to the information on the Crunchbase website to list the financing information of these six information data products one by one.

Most of these leading platforms for data analysis choose venture capital to promote rapid growth. Several projects in the table have received tens of millions of dollars in financing, which has become a strong guarantee for their commercial layout. Capital empowerment helps such start-up sites quickly expand their engineering capabilities and expand their business scope.The data platform accelerates the completion of its own product system and commercialization system through investment assistance.

Although DexScreener did not announce its financing news, it was learned from the Crunchbase website that it also received early funding from Uniswap and multiple angel investors. In addition, Dextools went its own way. starting from the grassroots of the community, it issued tokens $DEXT to raise funds from the community, and established a complete paid token mechanism.

Payment mechanism

External capital has helped strengthen the operational capabilities of these projects in their early stages, and the realization of service charges directly to end users is still the only way to achieve long-term commercial independence.

Observing the respective business frameworks of these six projects, you will find the diversity and differences in paid conversion strategies. Its charging models can be roughly divided into four categories:

1. Enterprise / Institutional Customized Services
2. Project party advertising
3. API traffic charges
4. Retailers monthly fee

On-chain data analysis tools headed by Nansen and Arkham have high professionalism and their main users are corporate institutions, so their customized high-end data services are the core source of fees; DeBank and 0xScope monetize the traffic through the developer interface. We are also seeking commercial cooperation with project parties. At the same time, these four platforms have also launched retail payment plans; while Dextools and Dexscreener are more popular, providing free services to general users and charging advertising fees to project parties, unlocking more detailed information announcements.

One of the more interesting ones is that in addition to commercial subscription services for institutions, Arkham Intelligence has also developed a blockchain intelligence reward platform Arkham Intel Exchange to provide a channel for monetization on-chain intelligence. Buyers and sellers can trade blockchain data analysis results on this platform. First of all, buyers can find the specific intelligence analysis content they need through bounties, and sellers can also auction their own intelligence output. Transactions are controlled and incentivized through smart contracts, using cryptocurrency tokens such as ARKM as the medium of exchange. Arkham Intelligence takes a commission profit from this. Although there are currently not many users of this platform, the launch of Arkham Intel Exchange allows people to see a new business model that is innovative and crypto-native.

Another refreshing thing is the DeBank Chain plan launched by Debank. Currently, the chain has not been launched on the main network. Debank uses its own strong user base to build the DeBank Chain. The goal is to move into the Social Fi field and become an asset layer built for social. Debank is able to earn additional fees through L2’s sorter, and the launch of DeBank Chain allows us to see the profit possibilities of another information analysis platform.

It can be seen that start-up platforms such as blockchain data analysis generally still have room for exploration and optimization of business models. How to use the unique financial attributes of the Web 3 field to create different business profit models has always been the primary problem of information analysis platforms. According to TokenInsight’s predictions, the market size of the entire crypto data analysis industry is expected to reach US$1.5 billion in 2025, and the total number of direct paying users may exceed one million. With the advent of mass adoption of blockchain, the market will be extremely huge.

Estimated revenue

Since these projects are in the early stages of entrepreneurship, and relevant data such as their profits or number of subscribers have not been released, they can only be analyzed in a simulated way through big data on the average number of monthly visits in the Web2 website market and the ratio of real users to paying users.

Generally speaking, for many digital content subscription products, about 5% of monthly active users can be converted into paying users, which is a more typical range. For most start-up applications or tool websites, a conversion rate of 1-3% is more common. Since Web3 users use subscription services earlier, we estimate a conversion rate of 1% here. However, there is usually a certain gap between the monthly page views of the website in the statistics and the actual number of monthly visitors, for some tool or transaction websites , the user’s repeat visit rate will be higher, and the number of page views per person per month can reach more than 20 times. At this time, the number of monthly page views may be more than 10 times the number of monthly active users, so here we estimate that the real number of users to the number of monthly page views is Approximately 10%.

Based on the price of DeBank’s monthly subscription service package of 15u/m and the above estimation, the real number of users with one-tenth of five million monthly visitors is 500,000 real users. And based on a subscription service conversion rate of one percentage point, there will be 5,000 monthly subscribers, which equals a monthly revenue of approximately US$75,000, or $900,000 in annual subscription revenue。

The monthly subscription fee for Nansen and 0xScope is about 100u/m, and based on the above estimate, their average subscription services gain an annual revenue of approximately $960,000 and $900,000 respectively. And we cannot estimate that of Arkham intelligence since it has not launched a user subscription service.

In addition, the main income of Dextools and Dexscreener comes from advertising. In the first half of the year, DODO Research analyzed the results through on-chain addresses. Dextools generates approximately $10 million in annual advertising revenue. However, after Dexscreener, who has a similar number of monthly views, also launched a paid-for-enhanced advertising service, the reasonable estimated revenue registers at least $5 million.

Please note that the above estimated revenue does not represent real data. They are only estimates based on market conditions and on-chain data. Paid subscription and advertising revenue are only a part of the revenue of this type of platform website. Institutional enterprises’ Customized analysis services and API fees are still a considerable income stream.

Conclusion

The author believes that in addition to developing social attributes, this type of information data platform will be another source of profit if it can combine more financial transaction attributes. In the Web3 field, trading and profit have always been the number one goal of users. Whether it is Debank’s asset management platform or the on-chain data analysis platforms of Nansan, Arkham and 0xScope, not to mention the K-line websites of Dexscreener and Dextools, users who visit them all aims to get the information they need and make money via trading them.

Therefore, if such platforms can establish a unique cooperative relationship with exchanges (whether decentralized exchanges or centralized exchanges) to facilitate users to trade in one-stop and obtain profits from it, this will be the first step between exchanges and information exchanges. The win-win model of the platform has been tried similarly in the Rabby wallet launched by Debank, and we look forward to seeing more information platforms with similar services.

From the support of institutional capital and the actual access of data by users, we can see the importance of information data platforms in the era of multi-chain and rapid growth of blockchain data. How to choose profit-making methods suitable for its own positioning and advantages, to insist on iterative optimization of products and user experience, and to achieve rapid growth through external financing at the necessary stage are the keys to establishing a firm foothold in the blockchain data service market.

If it can be organically combined with transaction functions and social attributes in terms of business means, it will also open up greater imagination for this type of information platform and help it play a more important role in the era of massive information.

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Disclaimer：

1. This article is reprinted from [DODO Research]. All copyrights belong to the original author [DODO Research]. If there are objections to this reprint, please contact the Gate Learn team, and they will handle it promptly.
2. Liability Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not constitute any investment advice.
3. Translations of the article into other languages are done by the Gate Learn team. Unless mentioned, copying, distributing, or plagiarizing the translated articles is prohibited.