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DeFi
Decoded

The Complete Practitioner’s Guide to
Decentralized Finance

462 pages. 34 chapters. 8 parts. From how AMMs actually work — mathematically — to why most yield farmers lose money, to where institutional capital is going in 2026. The book serious investors read before deploying a dollar into DeFi.

34Chapters
8Parts
462Pages
2026Current
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DeFi Decodeddefiresearch.com
defiresearch.com · 2026
DeFi
Decoded
The Complete Practitioner’s Guide to Decentralized Finance
TVL $153B 2026
AMMs & Concentrated Liquidity
Yield Engineering vs Farming
Pendle & Fixed-Income DeFi
RWAs & Institutional Layer
MEV, Risk & Capital Mgmt
✓ No paywall
✓ Instant PDF download
✓ Updated for 2026 market structure
✓ Written for serious investors
✓ From the team behind 10x Research
✓ Unsubscribe anytime
What’s Inside

Eight parts. Zero fluff.

Each part covers a distinct pillar of DeFi — from foundational mechanics to the cutting edge of yield engineering and institutional adoption. Institutional depth, practitioner framing.

Part I
The Foundation
  • Architecture of decentralized finance
  • Blockchains, smart contracts & infrastructure
  • Protocol ecosystem — map of the territory
  • Wallets, keys & self-custody fundamentals
Part II
DEXs & AMMs
  • How AMMs work — the x*y=k formula
  • Uniswap v3 concentrated liquidity
  • Uniswap v4 hooks & programmable AMMs
  • Curve Finance & vote-locking economy
  • MEV — maximal extractable value
Part III
Lending & Borrowing
  • Overcollateralization & liquidation mechanics
  • Aave — the reference protocol
  • Morpho & the efficiency evolution
  • Flash loans explained fully
  • Leverage loops & amplified risk
Part IV
Yield Engineering
  • Real yield vs emission yield
  • Liquid staking — Lido, Rocket Pool, LSTs
  • Restaking & EigenLayer risk/return
  • Pendle — yield tokenization & fixed income
  • Delta-neutral strategies
  • Impermanent loss — full mathematical treatment
Part V
Stablecoins
  • Fiat-backed, overcollateralized & algorithmic
  • Yield-bearing stablecoins — sDAI, sUSDe, USDY
  • Depeg risk — when stablecoins fail
Part VI
Real-World Assets
  • RWA tokenization architecture
  • BlackRock BUIDL, Ondo & tokenized Treasuries
  • Private credit on-chain — highest yield, real risk
Part VII
Multi-Chain DeFi
  • Ethereum L2s — Arbitrum, Base, Optimism
  • Solana DeFi — speed & distinct risk profile
  • Bridges & the fragmentation problem
Part VIII
Risk & Capital Mgmt
  • Complete DeFi risk taxonomy
  • Smart contract risk assessment
  • Portfolio construction & position sizing
  • Tax treatment of DeFi activity
  • The practitioner’s framework
The Concepts That Matter

The math most DeFi content skips

Most DeFi content hand-waves the hard parts. This book explains the formulas that determine your actual returns — so you can evaluate any protocol before deploying capital.

The AMM Formula
Why the constant product formula creates price slippage, how pool depth affects execution, and what it means to be a liquidity provider at a mathematical level.
x · y = k  →  P = y/x
Impermanent Loss
The formula most LPs never see. Why providing liquidity is structurally short-gamma, why 51% of Uniswap v3 LPs were unprofitable, and how to calculate your actual position.
IL = 2√r / (1+r) − 1
Real vs Emission Yield
The single most important distinction in DeFi. Protocols that pay yield in their own inflating tokens are redistributing capital, not generating it.
Net APY = fees + interest − IL − gas
Pendle PT/YT Split
How yield tokenization lets you lock in fixed rates, speculate on yield direction, or access duration exposure unavailable anywhere else in DeFi.
asset → PT (principal) + YT (yield)
Delta-Neutral Strategies
How the cash-and-carry trade extracts funding rate yield with no directional exposure. Why sUSDe works, when it stops working, and how to size the position.
long spot + short perp = 0 delta
MEV Extraction
How sandwich attacks, arbitrage bots, and liquidation frontrunning extract value from your transactions — and the specific defences that reduce your exposure.
MEV = insert → victim → extract
Who This Book Is For

Written for the serious investor

This is not beginner content. It assumes financial literacy and rewards it with institutional-grade analysis of how DeFi actually works.

This book is for you if…
  • → You’re a professional investor or portfolio manager building DeFi exposure
  • → You’re a crypto investor who wants to go beyond spot holdings into yield
  • → You’ve heard of yield farming but want to understand the actual mechanics before deploying capital
  • → You want to understand where institutional money is going — RWAs, restaking, yield tokenization
  • → You follow on-chain research and want the analytical framework behind it
  • → You want to know what questions to ask before trusting any protocol with meaningful capital
This book is not for you if…
  • ✕ You’re looking for hot token tips or “100x gems”
  • ✕ You want step-by-step instructions to connect MetaMask to a protocol
  • ✕ You believe DeFi is primarily about memecoins and speculation
  • ✕ You’re not willing to think analytically about risk-adjusted returns
  • ✕ You want to be told everything is safe — this book is honest about where capital has been destroyed and why
Free Download

Stop guessing.
Start understanding DeFi.

DeFi Decoded is the book we wish existed when institutional-grade investors first asked us how to approach decentralized finance — not from excitement or fear, but from rigorous analysis.

Download directly below or subscribe free to get the book plus weekly research from the 10x Research team.

What you receive
  • Instant PDF download — 462 pages, full book
  • Weekly DeFi Research newsletter (free tier)
  • Occasional research notes from the 10x Research team
DeFi
Decoded
Practitioner’s Guide · 2026

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