“The number of DeFi and GameFi users has plummeted, while AI DApps have risen against the trend!” The DappRadar report on the DApp market for Q2 2025 shows that the number of active wallets in DeFi and GameFi decreased by 33% and 17%, respectively, while AI and social DApps achieved significant growth, with AI agent applications ranking first in daily active users across the industry. This phenomenon of sector differentiation reflects the profound transformation of the cryptocurrency market from 'speculation-driven' to 'value-driven'. Many investors are confused: have the once-popular tracks of NFT and DeFi really failed? How should we grasp this new track of AI agents? As an analyst who has been tracking the DApp market for a long time, I will help you see the true landscape of the market today.
Let’s talk about the explosion logic of AI agent DApps, which is currently the core hot topic in the market. The rise of AI agent applications is primarily due to solving the 'threshold problem' for ordinary users to use Web3: it can automatically complete on-chain tasks, asset management, data analysis, etc., greatly enhancing user experience and efficiency. For instance, AI agent projects like Virtuals Protocol allow users to achieve automatic trading, liquidity mining, and other operations with simple command settings, without requiring professional blockchain knowledge. From the data, the number of daily active wallets for AI agent DApps has already firmly topped the industry, and the user retention rate of tool-type AI applications is much higher than that of entertainment-type applications, indicating that AI agents have genuine demand attributes.
My view is that the combination of AI and blockchain will be one of the core narratives in the crypto industry for the next 3-5 years. With the introduction of AI executive orders in the U.S., AI-related cryptocurrencies have gained more attention, and the first 'halving' of the decentralized AI network Bittensor (TAO) has sparked widespread discussion in the market. For ordinary investors, when entering the AI agent sector, it is important to focus on two directions: first, AI infrastructure projects with core technology, such as blockchain platforms that can provide large model training and data processing; second, AI agent tools with real application scenarios, such as automatic financial management, on-chain data analysis, and other tool-type DApps. There are many in-depth evaluations of AI + crypto projects in Binance Square that everyone can pay special attention to.
Now let's talk about the NFT and DeFi sectors that everyone is concerned about; they are not 'failing', but have entered a stage of 'structural transformation'. First, look at the NFT market: In Q2, NFT trading volume plummeted by 45%, but sales volume surged by 78%, and the number of traders increased by 20%, indicating that the market is shifting from 'conspicuous consumption' to 'functional consumption'. Trading volumes of personal avatar NFTs and art NFTs have significantly declined, while RWA NFTs and game NFTs have risen against the trend. The Courtyard platform has jumped to the second position in the NFT market thanks to the strong performance of RWA NFTs, and the Guild of Guardians NFT has surpassed BAYC and CryptoPunks to become the NFT project with the highest trading volume. This change tells us that NFTs with real application scenarios, such as game assets and tokenized products of real-world assets, are the future development direction.
The situation in the DeFi sector is similar: In Q2, the total locked value (TVL) in DeFi reached $200 billion, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 28%, but the financing amount dropped by 50%. This indicates that capital is becoming more rational, with quality projects receiving more attention, while projects lacking innovation are being eliminated by the market. The most notable is Hyperliquid L1, whose TVL surged by 547%. As a high-performance Layer 1 blockchain designed specifically for on-chain perpetual contracts and spot trading, its explosion indicates that DeFi is evolving towards 'specialization and high performance'. My advice is: ordinary investors entering DeFi should avoid projects that have no real locked assets and rely purely on speculation, focusing instead on leading projects with technological innovation (such as high-performance consensus mechanisms) and scenario innovation (such as RWA lending).
Finally, let me share some 'practical tips' for DApp investment.
First, analyze user retention rates: Check the 7-day and 30-day retention rates of the project through DappRadar. Projects with retention rates above 30% indicate strong user stickiness and potential for long-term development.
Second, verify the quality of the project's code: Check the frequency of code commits on GitHub; healthy projects typically have an average of over 10 commits per day and an active developer community.
Third, pay attention to ecological cooperation: High-quality DApps often collaborate with mainstream public chains and exchanges, such as being deployed on Binance Smart Chain and Ethereum, or receiving investment from top institutions.
In summary, my core viewpoint is: by 2025, the DApp market will present a pattern of 'AI rise, NFT and DeFi structural transformation'. The era of speculation-driven activities is over, and real value has become the core criterion for market assessment. Ordinary investors should abandon the mindset of 'chasing trends, speculating in air' and focus on projects that have real application scenarios and technological innovations. I will continue to share the latest dynamics and quality project evaluations of the DApp market in Binance Square, follow me @链上标哥 , and don’t get lost! I will guide you to find real investment opportunities amid sector differentiation!
