AI agents dominate the DApp market, RWA and gaming drive NFT revival

In the second quarter of 2025, the DApp ecosystem presents a new pattern. Despite the rebound in cryptocurrency market prices and improved sentiment, there is uneven development across various fields: AI agent applications are experiencing explosive growth, the value of NFTs is shifting from being ostentatious to being functional, and DeFi is progressing amidst rising TVL and shrinking financing. These changes reflect a shift in user demand and key trends that are reshaping the future of DApps.

The current market is no longer driven solely by speculation. Users are beginning to pursue real value, whether it be powerful AI agents, NFTs linked to physical assets, or DeFi platforms that provide sustainable returns. However, risks still exist: security incidents that occurred this quarter resulted in significant losses, highlighting the industry's vulnerabilities in terms of security.

Key Data

• The average daily active unique wallets for DApps is 24.3 million, a decrease of 2.5% month-over-month, but still an increase of 247% compared to the beginning of 2024.
• The total locked value in DeFi reached $200 billion, with a quarter-on-quarter growth of 28%, mainly benefiting from Ethereum's 36% increase. However, the financing amount in the DeFi sector dropped by 50% quarter-on-quarter, with only $483 million raised in the second quarter.
• NFT trading volume fell by 45% to $867 million, but the number of sales increased by 78% to 14.9 million, reflecting a decrease in the average market price, while the number of traders grew by 20%.
• RWA NFT trading volume increased by 29%, becoming the second largest NFT category. The Courtyard platform jumped to become the second largest NFT market this quarter.
• The trading volume of Guild of Guardians NFT ranks first and fourth, surpassing BAYC and CryptoPunks, marking the rise of game NFTs.
• Web3 suffered a loss of $6.3 billion due to security incidents, representing a 215% increase compared to the previous period. Among these, the Mantra incident resulted in a loss of $5.5 billion, making it the largest single loss.

DApp Activity Analysis

The activity level of DApps decreased slightly by 2.5% this quarter, with an average of 24.3 million daily active unique wallets. This data indicates that the ecosystem has stabilized, and users continue to interact with multiple application areas. It is worth noting that many users operate multiple wallets, so the actual number of users may be lower.

The number of active wallets in DeFi and GameFi has decreased, down by 33% and 17% respectively. Meanwhile, Social and AI DApps have experienced growth, in line with current industry trends. In the Social sector, the InfoFi concept has emerged, with platforms like Kaito and Cookie DAO standing out. The AI sector is mainly focused on agent-type applications, with Virtuals Protocol being particularly noteworthy.

From the perspective of market share, the DeFi and Gaming sectors have seen a decrease in their proportions, while the AI and Social sectors have expanded their shares. It is expected that by the end of the year, the AI sector may surpass Gaming or DeFi to become one of the dominant sectors.

DeFi Development Trends

In the second quarter of 2025, the total value locked in DeFi surpassed $200 billion, with a quarter-on-quarter growth of 28%. This is mainly due to the overall rebound of the crypto market, with Bitcoin rising 30% compared to the previous quarter, Ethereum climbing 36%, and the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies increasing by 25%.

Most major blockchains recorded growth in TVL, with only Tron falling by 8%. Ethereum remains the leader with a 62% share, followed by Solana at 10%. The standout performer this quarter is Hyperliquid L1, with a staggering 547% increase in TVL.

Despite the growth in TVL, financing in the DeFi sector has significantly declined. This quarter, only $483 million was raised, a decrease of 50% compared to the previous quarter. The total financing for DeFi projects in the first two quarters of 2025 is approximately $1.4 billion. Although this is lower than the explosive growth seen in previous years, it still shows that there is a stable interest in funding within this sector.

NFT Market Transformation

The NFT market is showing a contradictory situation of declining transaction volume but a surge in trading volume. This quarter, NFT transaction volume decreased by 45%, but trading volume increased by 78%. This indicates that NFTs are becoming more affordable, the market's enthusiasm has not diminished but increased, although the nature has changed.

The trading volume of personal avatar NFTs has drastically decreased by 72%. In contrast, RWA NFTs have surged to the second position in trading volume with a 29% increase. The trading volume of art NFTs has dropped by 51%, but the transaction volume has skyrocketed by 400%, indicating a significant drop in art prices. Domain NFTs have made a comeback, especially with strong demand for anonymous domains on the TON blockchain.

The average monthly NFT traders this quarter reached 668,598, a 20% increase compared to the previous quarter. This indicates that users are steadily returning to the NFT space, although the driving factors may vary.

In terms of trading platforms, OpenSea remains in the lead, but the Courtyard platform has quickly risen to second place. This reflects the strong performance of the RWA narrative in the NFT space.

It is worth noting that the game NFT collection Guild of Guardians has topped the quarterly trading volume, surpassing blue-chip projects like CryptoPunks and BAYC. This further confirms that RWA and gaming assets are becoming the main forces driving the NFT market.

Frequent Security Incidents

In the second quarter of 2025, the Web3 sector lost $6.3 billion due to hacker attacks and security vulnerabilities, an increase of 215% compared to the previous quarter, marking one of the most severe loss records since the FTX collapse. Among these, 87% of the losses came from a single event: the Mantra crash.

The main security incidents include:

1. Mantra insider sale incident: $5.5 billion market value evaporated
2. Individual users suffered private key theft: loss of $330.7 million
3. Cetus Protocol hacking incident: Loss of $260 million
4. Nobitex exchange was attacked: loss of 82 million USD
5. UPCX Protocol Vulnerability: Loss of approximately 70 million US dollars

These events highlight the significant security risks that still exist in the industry, emphasizing the urgent need to strengthen the construction of security infrastructure, auditing, and emergency response mechanisms.

Conclusion

In the second quarter of 2025, the DApp ecosystem is entering a stage of integration and transformation. AI and social applications are on the rise, NFTs are transitioning to RWA and gaming assets, and DeFi remains a core player but is facing a cooling of capital. Users have not left Web3; instead, they have chosen different ways to participate. The current challenge is to create DApps that are both attractive and secure, sustainable, in order to generate real value. The future development of the industry is worth ongoing attention.