- A report from DappRadar highlighted last quarter’s DeFi activity, demonstrating Web3’s continued push into the mainstream.
- The industry recorded its highest ever number of unique active wallets in Q2 2024, an increase of 40%.
- Additionally, NFTs saw their best sales quarter since the first quarter of 2023.
- Ethereum is still the king of DeFi, hosting almost 12x in 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 2024 blockchain renaissance, led by one-time ETF approvals and institutional participation, has also seen Web3 participants skyrocket.
According to DeFi analysts DappRadar, 2024 Q2 recorded the highest DeFi participation ever seen thanks to new Web3 developments – especially in the social space.
Related: Ethereum ecosystem suffers $400,000,000 in losses since the beginning of the year, the number of crypto hacks increased by more than 50%: SlowMist
Unique active wallets reach ATH thanks to Web3 social and gaming industries
The most impressive metric is the number of unique active wallets in the dapp (decentralized applications) industry. For much of 2023, the total number of unique addresses linked 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 still dominate, thanks to the explosion in popularity of idle and earn games such as Hamster Kombat and Notcoin. Beyond that, GameFi’s dominance has actually fallen thanks to the strong performance of the NFT and social sectors in Q2 2024.
NFTs recorded their best quarter in over a year, accumulating a trading volume of more than US$4 billion (AU$6 billion).
Significant growth was also seen in the social dapp sector, with unique wallets up 66% in just three months. Leading platforms like fantasy.top and friend.tech have been largely responsible for the sector’s upward movement.
TVL stabilizes as Ethereum pushes DeFi activity higher
In the DeFi sector, things have remained stable over the past quarter. The total value locked (TVL) across all decentralized finance ecosystems has only slightly decreased, demonstrating its stability despite the decline in memecoins.
Related: ATO cracks down: Crypto profits under scrutiny as Australians file tax returns
Solana was hit the hardest, with the network’s TVL dropping 10%, while Ethereum continued to strengthen after a 9% TVL improvement.
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.
