0xngmi
0xngmi is a pseudonymous DeFi developer best known as the founder and lead maintainer of DefiLlama, a blockchain data aggregator that tracks decentralized finance activity.[4] They have also created other projects such as the payroll and payments protocol LlamaPay and the NFT lending project LlamaLend.[3][2]
Identity
In February 2022, 0xngmi put out a bounty on their own identity:
“If anyone DMs me with my real identity along with an explanation of how you found it I'll send you 1 ETH,” he tweeted.
According to 0xngmi, 178 individuals accepted this offer and asserted that they had discovered his true identity. However, most of them made incorrect assumptions, with the closest guess being related to his time zone. On a separate note, someone else successfully doxed another team member of DefiLlama and received the ETH bounty as a result.[1]
Career
0xngmi co‑founded DefiLlama around 2020 as a DeFi TVL and blockchain data aggregator, focusing on tracking on‑chain activity across multiple protocols and chains.[5][4] DefiLlama became known as a public‑goods‑style dashboard that makes its aggregated metrics freely available while 0xngmi and collaborators continually update connectors and datasets.[4] He later created LlamaPay as a protocol for automated, streaming payments to address recurring payroll and subscription needs he encountered while managing crypto payments.[3] In 2022, 0xngmi announced the upcoming launch of LlamaLend, an NFT‑backed lending protocol intended to address liquidity constraints faced by NFT holders.[2]
Projects
DefiLlama
DefiLlama is a multi-chain TVL and blockchain data dashboard, where data connectors are contributed and maintained by a community. It aggregates data on almost 5,000 protocols across about 400 blockchains, tracking metrics such as TVL, fees, revenues, volumes, yields, bridges, oracles, airdrops, hacks, centralized exchanges, and fundraising activity.[4] The platform aims to offer transparency and accurate information to users interested in monitoring and analyzing the DeFi market, and its data has been cited by institutions including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the European Central Bank, and the Bank for International Settlements.[4]
DefiLlama also operates Llama+, a paid subscription tier that adds workflow features on top of the same underlying data. In June 2025, DefiLlama launched a Llama+ Pro dashboard that allows subscribers to build and share custom dashboards with arbitrary combinations of metrics, as well as access tools such as LlamaFeed, CSV downloads, and support for custom calculated columns.[4] Because DefiLlama tracks a large share of on‑chain activity and publishes methodology decisions, third‑party commentators sometimes refer to it as an important reference point for DeFi metrics.[4]
LlamaPay
LlamaPay is a multi-chain protocol designed to automate sending and receiving crypto payments that can be streamed on a second-by-second basis. It was created by 0xngmi to simplify recurring payments after finding existing solutions too slow and cumbersome.[3] Employers can use LlamaPay to stream salaries so that workers earn and can claim pay in real time rather than in periodic lump sums, while businesses can use it for subscriptions and other recurring payments, and token issuers can use it for vesting schedules.[3]
The protocol is immutable: the smart contracts that power LlamaPay have no owner and cannot be upgraded or altered by 0xngmi or any other party, which reduces trust assumptions for users and aims to make the system “un‑ruggable.”[3] LlamaPay operates across multiple blockchains, with Arbitrum leading by number of claimants and Ethereum supporting the largest number of paying organizations.[3] In a June 15, 2026 DefiLlama Research spotlight, DefiLlama reported that streaming contracts on LlamaPay held about $1.3 million in crypto at that time, while token vesting contracts held more than $10 million, with Arbitrum again representing a significant share.[3]
According to the same June 2026 report, adoption included usage by organizations such as Arbitrum, Curve, CoW Swap, Yearn, and DefiLlama itself.[3] Over the preceding one‑month period covered in that spotlight, 56 organizations paid more than 200 employees via LlamaPay, and employees claimed just under $950,000 in that span, with an average claim size of $154.[3] In the salary‑streaming model described there, an employer deposits funds into a smart contract and configures a stream; the contract continuously accrues the recipient’s earnings, and the employee can withdraw at any time up to the amount earned since their last withdrawal, enabling fine‑grained payment schedules that can even be automated at hourly or similar cadences.[3]
LlamaLend
LlamaLend is an NFT lending project that was announced as an upcoming protocol in October 2022.[2] In the launch description, users were expected to be able to deposit their NFTs and receive a signed price attestation from a server, after which they could borrow up to one-third of the NFTs' floor value in ETH. The proposed loan repayment period extended up to two weeks, with flexibility to repay at any time, and interest would apply solely for the duration the loan was utilized, with a fixed interest rate determined by pool utilization.[2]
"If a holder needs liquid money because a good opportunity has appeared, all they can do [now] is just sell their NFTs."
To discourage late repayments, 0xngmi suggested implementing an additional late fee that would increase by 100% of the borrowed amount every 24 hours.[2] According to the original coverage, the protocol was planned to utilize an oracle system that involved a single request to determine the borrowing price of NFTs, eliminating the need for subsequent requests.[2]
To achieve this, the design called for a server to track the minimum floor price of NFTs for a specific period (such as a week) and provide a signed message with that price upon request, after which users could submit the signed message on-chain to borrow ETH based on the indicated price.[2]
