Introduction to Web3 Sector Dynamics
Web3 services encompass a range of decentralized applications (DApps) and token projects across sectors such as decentralized finance (DeFi), gaming, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), and emerging artificial intelligence (AI)-focused protocols. While speculative investments in altcoins remain prevalent, a deeper assessment of on-chain metrics—active wallet counts, transaction volumes, total value locked (TVL), and gas consumption—paints a more nuanced picture of real-world utility and adoption.
Wallet Activity and Adoption Trends
According to DappRadar’s Q2 2025 report, daily unique active wallets (UAW) across all DApps held steady at around 24 million. However, sector composition shifted: gaming led with over 20% of daily UAW, followed by DeFi which slipped below 19%, while social and AI-centric DApps began gaining traction. Platforms like Farcaster averaged approximately 40,000 daily UAW, and AI protocols such as Virtuals Protocol recorded roughly 1,900 weekly UAW, signaling nascent user engagement beyond finance and entertainment.
Transaction Volumes Across Sectors
Weekly transaction counts underscore DeFi’s persistent dominance: over 240 million contract invocations occur in lending, decentralized exchanges, and yield aggregation, surpassing gaming’s 100 million and other digital asset categories. TVL in DeFi rose to $137 billion—up 150% from January 2024—yet active wallet counts declined, highlighting institutional consolidation into fewer, larger accounts as capital efficiency improves through protocol-level automation from services like Lido and EigenLayer.
Gas Consumption Reveals Economic Weight
Ethereum gas usage metrics from Glassnode show DeFi now accounts for only 11% of total network gas, NFTs dropped to 4%, and a broad “Other” category—encompassing RWA tokenization, DePIN, AI and other novel use cases—has surged to over 58%. RWA token holders increased to an estimated 346,250, with total RWA value rising from $15.8 billion in early 2024 to $25.4 billion today, underscoring institutional interest in asset-backed tokens.
Price Performance vs. On-Chain Activity
Token market performance generally correlates with sectors demonstrating tangible utility. Over the past year, top smart contract platform tokens gained an average of 142%, led by Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) and Stellar (XLM). Yield-focused DeFi tokens returned an average of 77%, while RWA tokens gained 65%. Narrative-driven sectors—AI, DePIN, and social—lagged, with AI tokens down 25% year-over-year, indicating investor preference for foundational infrastructure and revenue-generating protocols.
Conclusion and Future Outlook
Investor confidence in Web3 remains concentrated in mature, utility-driven sectors. As regulatory clarity emerges and on-chain infrastructure evolves, sectors currently experiencing hype may translate adoption into measurable token value. However, for now, infrastructure, yield generation, and real-world asset tokenization continue to define performance and long-term growth trajectories within the decentralized economy.
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