DeFi
Report Reveals Web3 Usage Hits Record High, Grows 40%
- A report from DappRadar shed light on the latest quarter of DeFi activity, demonstrating Web3’s continued push towards the mainstream.
- The industry recorded its highest number of unique active wallets in Q2 2024, showing a 40% increase.
- Additionally, NFTs had their best quarter of sales since Q1 2023.
- Ethereum is still the king of DeFi, hosting nearly 12x more TVL compared to the next largest ecosystem (Solana).
Despite a tough month for cryptocurrencies, with most major projects facing double-digit losses, there is still light at the end of the tunnel for investors. The blockchain renaissance in 2024, driven by spot ETF approvals and institutional involvement, has also seen the number of Web3 participants skyrocket.
According to DeFi analysts DappRadar, Q2 2024 checked in the highest DeFi participation ever recorded thanks to new developments in Web3 – especially in the social space.
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Unique Active Wallets Hit Record Highs Thanks to Web3 Social and Gaming Industries
The most impressive metric is the number of unique active wallets in the dapp (decentralized application) sector. For much of 2023, the total number of unique addresses tied to Web3 applications hovered between 3 and 5 million. This number has exploded in recent months, reaching over 10 million for the first time in blockchain history.
Gaming wallets continue to rule the roost, thanks to the explosion in popularity of idle and money-making games like Hamster Kombat and Notcoin. Beyond that, GameFi’s dominance has actually declined thanks to the strong performance of the NFT and social sectors in Q2 2024.
NFTs recorded their best quarter in over a year, racking up more than US$4 billion (AU$6 billion) in trading volume.
The social dapp sector has also seen significant growth, with unique wallets increasing by 66% in just three months. Leading platforms like fantasy.top and friend.tech have contributed significantly to the sector’s rise.
TVL Stabilizes as Ethereum Pushes DeFi Activity Higher
In the DeFi sector, the situation remained stable over the last quarter. The total value locked (TVL) across all decentralized finance ecosystems only slightly decreased, demonstrating some stability despite the fall of memecoins.
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Solana was hit the hardest, with the network’s TVL dropping 10%, while Ethereum rallied from strength to strength after a 9% improvement in TVL.
The most popular dapps continue to be decentralized exchanges across multiple protocols, with Solana’s Raydium and Jupiter leading the way, while Uniswap V3 takes third place in terms of unique active wallets.