DappRadar's Dapp Industry Report for February 2025

In February, the Web3 trend shifted. Despite a slight decline in overall activity, AI, gaming, and social dapps continued to grow.

DappRadar's Dapp Industry Report for February 2025

Compiled by: Felix, PANews

Original Author: DappRadar

Original Title: Dapp Industry Report: February 2025

Web3 Trend Shifts: Despite Slight Decline in Activity, AI, Gaming, and Social Dapps Showed Growth

After a strong January, Web3 activity saw a slight slowdown in February. The total number of daily unique active wallets (dUAW) across all tracked dapps decreased by 8%, stabilizing around 24 million.

Despite the overall decline in activity, DeFi maintained its largest user share, with approximately 27% of active wallets in February being associated with DeFi applications. However, not all sectors followed the downward trend, as social, NFT, and AI categories showcased growth, indicating a shift in user interest. Social dapps grew by 9%, reaching 2.8 million dUAW, NFT activity saw a 6% increase with 3.5 million users interacting with NFT platforms, and AI dapps experienced the fastest growth of 16%, stabilizing at 2.6 million dUAW.

From a blockchain perspective, Solana sustained its lead in on-chain activity, boasting the highest number of unique active wallets (UAW) and transaction volume. This sustained engagement reflected the booming popularity of gaming dapps and memecoins, positioning them at the center of emerging trends. Among the 44 tracked chains, Abstract stood out with an exceptional 1093% UAW growth.

Popular dapps: Changes in Web3 Adoption Trends

A closer look at the most active dapps in February reveals several key trends highlighting the evolving landscape of Web3.

Solana and NEAR maintained their dominance in user activity, consistently attracting a large user base. Their dapps showcased resilience despite slight fluctuations in performance.

Gaming and AI dapps emerged as the fastest-growing categories, with significant increases in their adoption rates. LOL, a gaming dapp on Matchain, experienced a 40% surge in UAW, and Alaya AI saw an impressive 72% growth.

In the DeFi sector, slight shifts in user behavior were detected. Uniswap V3 experienced a decline in usage, while Uniswap V2 saw an increase, suggesting traders were seeking more cost-effective options.

Emerging chains, like Matchain with LOL as its most active dapp, brought fresh competition to the dapp industry.

As Web3 expands, these trends suggest a future integration of decentralized applications into everyday digital life.

With New Chains Entering, Defi Faced Market Volatility

February witnessed a sharp decline in the DeFi sector, with total value locked (TVL) plummeting from $217 billion to $168 billion. This drop reflected broader market volatility, capital outflows, and liquidity changes that impacted both mainstream and emerging DeFi ecosystems.

The Ethereum network, the backbone of DeFi, experienced a 27% drop in TVL, reaching $97 billion. Despite the decline, Ethereum still held the majority share of 57% in the total liquidity across all tracked chains. The decrease was mainly attributed to reduced liquidity in liquid staking protocols, which had previously been a major growth driver. However, despite the market downturn, Ethereum's position remained largely unshaken.

Solana saw the largest decrease with its TVL falling by 33% to $15.4 billion. Following a strong January, this decline may be attributed to profit-taking activity and liquidity shifting to more stable DeFi options. Moreover, decreased user activity on protocols like Jupiter Exchange (UAW down 10%) and Raydium (UAW down 39%) exacerbated the decline, indicating lower trading volume and liquidity supply.

On the other hand, Berachain emerged as one of the fastest-growing DeFi ecosystems, with TVL reaching $5.05 billion. This chain’s rapid rise was attributed to its unique liquidity proof model, which attracted users with lucrative liquid staking and yield farming programs to maximize returns in a generally bearish market.

Other notable trends included BNB Chain and Tron, both playing critical roles in stablecoin-based DeFi. BNB Chain experienced a relatively moderate 11% decline in TVL as trading activity on Uniswap V2 and Balancer increased, while ChainGPT and Pendle saw decreased activity. Tron, on the other hand, displayed a 29% drop, indicating decreased demand for USDT trading and a general decline in on-chain stablecoin settlements. In stark contrast to the overall DeFi slump, Aptos stood out with a 6% increase in TVL, reaching $1.83 billion.

Fastest Growing Sector: Surge in AI dapps

For AI-driven dapps, February marked a significant milestone, as participation surged across multiple domains, strengthening the growing synergy between AI and