Author: Sara Gherghelas, DappRadar
Translated by: Tim, PANews
AI agents top the market, RWA redefines Non-Fungible Token value, DeFi attracts funds but loses momentum, with $6.3 billion in hacker attacks in the second quarter exposing the industry's vulnerability.
Despite the crypto market price rebound and improved sentiment, the DApp ecosystem presents a different landscape: AI agents experience explosive growth, Non-Fungible Token value shifts from showoff to functionality, and DeFi navigates between rising TVL and shrinking financing. These data not only demonstrate market activity but also reveal the real user flow, lagging areas, and key trends reshaping the DApp future.
In the era we now live in, the market can no longer be driven by hype alone. Users are beginning to seek real value: whether it's AI agents that can complete tasks, Non-Fungible Tokens associated with RWA, or DeFi platforms offering sustainable returns. However, risks remain high: losses from vulnerability exploits have dramatically increased, showing how fragile trust is and how minor oversights can be exploited by malicious actors.
This report delves into the industry landscape changes, comprehensively analyzing data dynamics in DeFi, Non-Fungible Tokens, gaming, AI, and other fields. From wallet activity and transaction volume to application and capital flows, we track key signals and focus on observing the core narratives shaping the crypto industry in the second quarter of 2025.
Key points:
- In the second quarter of 2025, the average daily active independent wallets for DApps was 24.3 million, a quarter-on-quarter decrease of 2.5%, but still a 247% surge compared to early 2024.
- DeFi total locked value reached $200 billion, a quarter-on-quarter growth of 28%, mainly benefiting from Ethereum's 36% rebound. However, DeFi financing dropped 50% quarter-on-quarter, with only $483 million raised in the second quarter, bringing the total financing for the first two quarters of 2025 to $1.4 billion.
- Non-Fungible Token transaction volume plummeted 45% to $867 million, but sales volume surged 78% to 14.9 million, reflecting a sharp drop in average market prices, while the number of traders increased by 20%.
- RWA Non-Fungible Token transaction volume grew 29%, rising to second place in the track, with Courtyard platform becoming the second-largest Non-Fungible Token market this quarter.
- Guild of Guardians Non-Fungible Token transaction volume soared to first and fourth place, surpassing BAYC and CryptoPunks, marking a turning point for gaming Non-Fungible Tokens.
- Web3 lost $6.3 billion due to security incidents, a 215% quarter-on-quarter increase. The Mantra vulnerability exploit alone caused a loss of $5.5 billion, becoming the second-largest crypto industry security incident since the FTX bankruptcy in 2022 (with a loss of $8 billion).
Ultimately, we analyzed the investments flowing into the DeFi field this quarter. The sector raised a total of $483 million, a 50% decrease compared to the first quarter. So far in 2025, DeFi projects have secured approximately $1.4 billion in funding. While this figure indicates a slowdown in the explosive growth we've seen in previous cycles, it still demonstrates a stable interest in the field and may signify a more mature capital allocation direction. Let's see how the trend develops in the rest of the year, but for now, it seems the trend is stabilizing.
3. Non-Fungible Token Sales Surge 78%, Trading Volume Declines: RWA and Games Lead Market Transformation
We all hoped for a Non-Fungible Token market recovery. Although overall attention remains, some core data is still not optimistic. This quarter, Non-Fungible Token transaction amount plummeted 45%, but trading volume paradoxically grew 78%. This confirms the long-term trend we've observed: Non-Fungible Tokens are becoming more affordable, and market enthusiasm hasn't waned but has instead shifted in nature.
To better understand the reasons behind this transformation, we reviewed the top Non-Fungible Token categories by trading volume this quarter. The data revealed an interesting phenomenon: new narratives are emerging, while old narrative patterns are making a comeback.
The data shows that personal avatar Non-Fungible Tokens were hit hard, plummeting 72%. In contrast, Real World Asset (RWA) Non-Fungible Tokens rose 29% to second place in transaction volume. Art Non-Fungible Tokens saw a 51% decline in transaction amount, but trading volume paradoxically surged 400%, indicating significantly reduced art piece prices, making art Non-Fungible Tokens more accessible to ordinary buyers.
A recently returning trend is domain name Non-Fungible Tokens, with both trading volume and sales rising. This growth is primarily driven by the TON blockchain ecosystem, with Telegram users eagerly purchasing anonymized domain names based on digital numbers. These domains can be associated with Telegram accounts without binding a SIM card, and this specific use case has clearly sparked market enthusiasm.
After understanding which categories are trending, we began focusing on the number of traders to determine if market participants are continuously growing or returning.
This quarter, the monthly average of Non-Fungible Token traders reached 668,598, a 20% increase from the previous quarter. Combined with the sales surge, this indicates users are slowly and steadily returning to the Non-Fungible Token field, though their motivations may differ from past hype cycles.
Despite the significant trading volume decline, OpenSea maintains its leading position. However, its sales volume has synchronized with the Courtyard platform. OpenSea's growth is closely related to its upcoming SEA token. This airdrop will target both old users and current active users on the updated platform. As a result, many users are actively trading low-priced Non-Fungible Token collections to accumulate points, attempting to maximize future reward gains - a classic strategy seen in other airdrop activities.
Meanwhile, the Courtyard platform has quickly risen to second place in the industry. This clearly shows that the RWA narrative is not only heating up in the DeFi field but also creating waves in the Non-Fungible Token realm. Frankly, this development is encouraging. The tokenization of physical assets may well become a key catalyst for pushing Non-Fungible Tokens into the mainstream.
We also investigated which product series dominated in the second quarter of 2025, and the data revealed a surprising transformation.
After a considerable period (possibly years), a game Non-Fungible Token collection first topped the quarterly transaction amount. Guild of Guardians not only made it to the top five but also occupied two positions, surpassing blue-chip projects like CryptoPunks and BAYC. This confirms the overall trend we've observed: RWA and game assets primarily drove Non-Fungible Token market activity in the second quarter. Now, we finally have data to support this assertion.
5. Conclusion
As the second quarter of 2025 draws to a close, DApps are clearly entering a new phase, marked by integration and transformation. Although overall activity (referring to daily active wallets) remains stable at around 24 million, we are witnessing a notable shift in user behavior and industry-leading domains. Driven by emerging narratives such as InfoFi and AI agent economy, AI and social DApps are accelerating their rise. The Non-Fungible Token field is also transforming, with RWA and game assets taking the lead, indicating a directional shift from speculative hype towards practical value.
Even as capital cools down, DeFi maintains its core pillar status through strong total locked value growth and price recovery. However, the surge in losses from vulnerability exploits sends a clear reminder to the industry: a development boom lacking reliable security measures may hinder its progress.
It is evident that users have not left the field, but rather chosen different experience methods. The current challenge is to create DApps that are both attractive and ensure safety, sustainability, and create real value. We will closely monitor these future developments and continue to provide in-depth reporting.
