What is DefiLlama's ChainList and what is it used for?

Chainlist is, in simple terms, a website that allows us to easily add different EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) compatible networks to our wallets.


Whenever we want to make a transaction on any blockchain network, we need to send the transaction through a node. We can either set up our own node and connect to it to send our transactions easily to the network, or we can do this through a pre-existing node.

Many people opt for the easy route and, instead of setting up their own nodes, they use ChainList to complete their transactions using readily available nodes.

So, why do we need to use ChainList?

Let's go through from an example scenario: Imagine there's a blockchain user named Veysel who wants to buy an NFT on a new EVM compatible network.

Whenever Veysel wants to make a transaction on the new network, he needs to manually enter the technical details of that network into his crypto wallet.

While it may seem simple for Veysel to check the documents of that network and add its technical details for just one network, it would be quite time-consuming if he had to do this for dozens of networks.

That's why we need ChainList. ChainList publishes the manual settings needed to connect to many networks on its open-source website. By going to http://chainlist.org, Veysel can easily add the desired network to his wallet.


All he needs to do is connect his wallet to the platform, and after searching for his desired network in the search bar, whether it's mainnet or testnet, click on the "Add to MM (or whichever wallet he's using)" button below the desired network.


After pressing this button and approving it in his crypto wallet, he can easily start using the connected network.


Additionally, ChainList offers the opportunity to connect to any RPC Provider we prefer (RPC is the public address of the node we'll connect to). This provides us a better user experience.


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