DappRadar: DeFi Sees Minor Recovery, Gaming Sector Activities Surge, as NFTs Trading Volume Crash  

DappRadar’s Blockchain Industry Report for July 2022 shows that the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem is gradually regaining momentum following the devastating crypto price bloodbaths triggered by the Terra collapse. The NFT industry has also seen an increase in the total number of user active wallets but total trading volume remains below the $1 billion mark, while the play-to-earn gaming sector represented over 60 percent of activity in the blockchain space as a whole last month.

DeFi Sees Slow Recovery 

While the price volatility of bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies is not peculiar to the crypto markets alone, as the phenomenon is normal across the global financial industry, the crypto winter of 2022 has gone into the record books as the worst in the history of the 13-year-old cryptoverse.

According to DappRadar, the world’s decentralized applications (dApp) store, normalcy is gradually returning to the blockchain industry, as the total value locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols managed a 22 percent increase, hitting $82.3 billion on July 31, 2022, though it’s still a far cry from the all-time-high (ATH) of $253.91 billion reached on December 2, 2021.

Importantly, the report also notes that Ethereum-based DeFi protocols accounted for the highest TVL during the same period. On July 1, the combined TVL of Ethereum DeFi platforms stood at roughly $46 billion. However, that figure increased to over $57.9 billion at the end of July.

Following the devastating collapse of the Terra ecosystem, the BNB Chain became the network with the second-highest TVL, which stood at roughly $6.8 billion at the end of July, the report says.

In the same period, the TRON network maintained the third position in terms of TVL. At the beginning of July, TRON TVL was just $3.95 billion but that amount increased to $5.9 billion on July 31.

 In the same vein, the TVL of other top blockchain networks witnessed a significant increase in July. Solana’s TVL increased from $2.47 billion to $3.2 billion, while Polygon and Cronos’ TVL increased by $270 million and $110 million respectively.

Despite the fact that the Polygon network TVL increase was not as high as that of other top chains in the report, the platform recorded significant updates during that period, including its receipt of multiple Terra-based projects. Polygon was also chosen as one of the participants of the Disney Accelerator Program and the project revealed plans to launch a new Web3 phone. 

NFTs Bubble Bursts, Blockchain Gaming Waxes Stronger 

The gloomy market conditions did not spare the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) ecosystem, as trading volume failed to hit the $1 billion mark in July 2022, a first since June 2021. As DappRadar researchers explain:

The market is facing a historically bearish period. Liquidity is down, prices are heavily influenced by the decline in the value of cryptocurrencies, and the potential profit from reselling is not very high. As a result, many users have decided to liquidate their investments in the NFT market, waiting for better times or moving to positions commonly known as ‘holding,’ until the crypto winter has passed.

Digital collectibles from the stable of Yuga Labs: CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and Otherdeed for OtherSide, dominated the NFT markets in July, recording more than $160 million in trades during that period.

When it comes to NFT marketplaces, OpenSea still maintained its dominance in July, however, the report notes that that narrative is gradually changing, as its market share crashed from the 84 percent recorded in May to just 58.6 percent in July 2022, as other marketplaces have continued to gain traction.

DappRadar notes:

The dominance of OpenSea has unquestionably diminished as the NFT market matures and becomes more competitive, with volume increasing in X2Y2, Solana’s Magic Eden, and Ethereum’s Foundation, which focuses on NFT artworks. Still, it is safe to say that OpenSea’s presence will remain dominant for months to come.

In the middle of the entire FUD in the cryptoverse, the blockchain gaming sector has shown no signs of distress, attracting nearly one million daily Unique Active Wallets (UAW) and a massive $857 million in transactions.

In conclusion, the researchers have made it clear that in spite of the recent more than 50 percent of the price of bitcoin (BTC) from its ATH of nearly $70k last November, with established altcoins such as ETH and SOL also experiencing more significant declines, crypto, NFTs and Web3 are still functional and will remain so.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin hovering around $22,600, while ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) are trading around $1,667, and $40.44 respectively.