Launching methodologies

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:

1. Overview: what the metric measures.

2. Data sources: which blockchain events, function calls, smart contracts’ state, or transactions are used.

3. Step-by-step calculation: how the raw data becomes the final output.

You can now find a Methodology tab on all project pages.

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.