Welcome to DeFi exec

After building a CSV history, the next gap was current permissions. Portfolio history tells me what happened. It does not tell me which contracts can still pull tokens from the wallet tomorrow.

Portfolio tracking sounds simple until you try to reconstruct what happened after a few weeks of swaps, bridges, LP deposits, airdrops, approvals, and lending transactions. Wallet balances show the current state. They do not explain how you got there.

I already wrote about modeling impermanent loss with fees in Python. A calculator is useful, but it glosses over the things that only show up when you have a live position: fee accrual on a narrow range that drifts out of the band, the gas cost of collecting, and the experience of watching your position value bob around while you wait for fees to catch up.

In the previous post, I deposited 200 USDC into Aave V3 on Arbitrum. That was risk-free in the sense that a supply-only position cannot be liquidated. Borrowing changes everything. The moment you take a loan, you create a position that the protocol can partially close if your collateral value drops too far relative to your debt.

Lending is where DeFi starts to feel like actual finance. You deposit an asset, the protocol lends it out, and you earn yield from borrowers paying interest. But unlike a savings account, there is no insurance, no customer support, and no undo button. The protocol’s risk parameters are your only safety net, and understanding them before depositing is not optional.