FUNDAMENTALS OF CRYPTO

How to Do Your Own Research (DYOR) Cryptocurrency

DYOR: The part everyone pretends to do but almost nobody actually does

Most new people in the crypto space start out by following the emotional opinions of others, instead of gathering factual information. They hear a narrative, trust the loudest voice, and then wonder why they walk straight into avoidable losses. DYOR fixes that by forcing you to build a repeatable framework. It replaces hype with evidence, emotion with checkpoints, and guesswork with a defensible position. Doing it well means you can explain out loud why you own something, what could break it, and what you’ll do if it fails. That clarity reduces panic selling, prevents “FOMO buys,” and gives you the tools to exploit asymmetric edges instead of being exploited by them.

Research the System, not the Coin

A coin is a puzzle piece, not the full picture. The network, the incentive design, the governance model, the developer tooling, the economic flows, and the user behaviour are what actually determine long term value. When you research, map the system: actors, incentives, and failure modes. Ask who benefits from adoption, how transactions are validated, where revenue comes from, and how upgrades are governed. If those parts make sense and align, the token has a defensible place in the ecosystem. If they don’t, the chart is just noise.

Seek Information before Opinions

Primary sources of information are non-negotiable. Before making any investment decisions, be sure to read the project website, the whitepaper or technical overview, the GitHub or code repo, and the core developer communications. Look for specificity: concrete mechanisms, code links, explicit token utility, and an honest roadmap with dates and scope. If the source material is light, vague, or full of marketing language, treat everything after it with scepticism. Use commentary and analyst pieces only to challenge your read, not to form it.

The Research Breakdown that actually matters

Industry Relevance

Define the market that the project intends to target and measure the true need for blockchain within it. Evaluate total addressable market size, incumbent solutions, switching costs, and regulatory headwinds. The bigger and more underserved the market, the larger the runway, provided the project can execute.

Team Capability

A strong roadmap without a capable team is a promise without delivery. Vet founders and core devs: prior technical work, open source contributions, exits, and real industry experience. Just like any start-up business out there, the beginning days are more about investing in the founder, not just the vision. Be sure to conduct in-depth research beyond the front-end resumes that they publicly promote; ensuring the team can back-up their words with action & experience.

Whitepaper Strength

A whitepaper should answer three questions in plain terms: what problem are they solving?, what/why blockchain?, and how value accrues directly towards the token. If it uses hand-wavy language or dodges token mechanics, that’s intentional ambiguity. Good papers include architecture diagrams, sequence flows, consensus choices, upgrade paths, and economic models. When the math is missing or unrealistic, assume the tokenomics are designed for sellers, not holders. Most projects treat a token as if it were a collectible instead of a financial instrument; those are especially the projects you should stay clear of at all times.

Funding and Backers

Trace capital flow and investor credibility. Institutional or strategic backers can open distribution, partnerships, and advisory bandwidth, but also bring expectations and lockups. Note the funding rounds, vesting schedules, and whether early investors are subject to long cliff periods. Projects that raised capital at high valuations with short lockups often face selling pressure at unlock events.

Partnerships and Real Integrations

Verify partnerships by reading the actual agreements or technical integration notes where possible. Distinguish marketing mentions from integrations that change product distribution or utility. Real partnerships result in shared roadmaps, joint engineering work, or measurable user growth. Press releases without follow up are marketing theatre.

What/Why Blockchain

This is the single most important question for filtering projects. Blockchain must solve a measurable trust, coordination, or incentive problem the same way a database cannot. If decentralisation is only used as a buzzword, the token will struggle to capture meaningful economic value. Demand for the token should stem from on chain utility, not from speculative narrative alone. Make sure you find the answer of what proof of blockchain action type they decide to go with (POW, POS, POA) and why the value that specific blockchain action. You can learn more about the different functions of blockchain technology here.

Token Function and Value Capture

Map exactly how the token is used, burned, staked, or rewarded. Who pays fees, who receives them, and how is supply managed over time? Consider marginal user value and marginal token demand. If usage creates predictable demand and token sinks, value can compound. If supply increases faster than demand or rewards are concentrated to insiders, token value is structurally capped.

External Research (Used Correctly)

Use third party reports, audits, and analyst pieces to stress test your thesis. Cross reference claims, pull audit reports, and check independent security reviews. But don’t let external research become a substitute for your own analysis. Treat it as additional evidence, not confirmation.

Execution and Track Record

Past behaviour is a strong predictor of future behaviour. Review release histories, developer notes, bug fix rates, and the team’s public transparency. Projects that communicate clearly when things go sideways and provide rationale typically rebuild trust faster than projects that disappear.

Key Milestones

List upcoming catalysts and understand their probable market impact: mainnet launches, L2 launches, bridging, token unlocks, governance votes, and major partnerships. Estimate how these events change on chain metrics and liquidity. Traders use them for timing, investors use them to measure progress. Know the dates and the real implications, not just the headlines.

With Shepley Capital, you don’t have to sift through endless charts, whitepapers, or conflicting narratives. Our team of experts delivers daily market insights, in-depth analysis, and actionable reports that cut straight to what actually matters. We do the heavy lifting, so you can focus on making informed decisions without the guesswork. This exclusive service is reserved for our Tier Members; giving you direct access to the research, context, and expertise most traders and investors spend months trying to assemble on their own.

You can find out more about our Tier Memberships here.

Research criteria serious investors use

Tokenomics

Total supply, circulating supply, scheduled inflation, emission curves, staking yields, and cliff/vesting mechanics all matter. Model realistic scenarios where adoption increases but token dilution outpaces utility. Conservative tokenomics with aligned incentives are rare and valuable.

Competitive Landscape

Whilst the cryptocurrency space is still very early on, the competitive landscape is far from minimal. Map direct and indirect competitors, compare adoption curves, technical trade offs, and network effects. Ask what defensible moat the project has. Is it developer mindshare, native liquidity, or a unique protocol design? If network effects are weak, the project must out-execute to survive.

Liquidity

Check exchange listings, AMM pool depth, spread, and slippage at realistic trade sizes. Thin markets allow manipulation and make exits expensive. Institutional-level liquidity indicates stronger price discovery and lower execution risk for larger positions.

Community and Developer Activity

Measure community engagement quality, not just size: active contributors, constructive discussions, localised meetups, and developer hackathons. Developer activity is measurable via commits, PRs, and merge frequency. A vibrant community plus active development equals higher odds of durable adoption. But this isn’t always the case, as has been previously seen with diminished projects like Safemoon & Grovecoin.

Why DYOR Matters

At the end of the day, DYOR is just about knowing what you’re actually putting your money into. Crypto moves fast, things go sideways, and it’s easy to get caught up in hype; but when you understand the project, the team, the token, and the market, you stop guessing and start making decisions that actually make sense. Combine that with insights from experienced people who live in this space every day, like our team at Shepley Capital, and suddenly all the noise becomes a fundamental understanding of how & where to invest your capital.