Main to remember::
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The daily web3 activity remained stable at 24 million in T2 2025, but the composition of the sector changes.
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DEFI leads to transaction accounts with 240 million each week, but the use of Ethereum gas is now dominated by RWA, Depin and AI.
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The coins of the intelligent contract platforms and the DEFI and RWA tokens generating yields surpass the market, while AI and Depol are strong stories.
Altcoins are more than speculative bets on parts outside Bitcoin. In most cases, they represent – or aim to represent – specific activity sectors in the web3, a decentralized alternative to the inherited internet and its services.
The assessment of the state and the potential of the Altcoin market means to look beyond prices. Key indicators such as the use of gas, the number of transactions and unique active active portfolios (UAW) help to assess activity and adoption, while the performance of parts reveal whether the markets follow onchain trends.
IA and social DAPPs win the adoption
The UAW has distinct addresses interacting with the DAPPs, offering a proxy for the adoption width, although several portfolios by user and automated activity can distort the results.
Dappradar’s T2 2025 report shows a regular daily activity at around 24 million. However, a change in domination of the sector emerges. The crypto game remains the largest category, with more than 20% market share, although down compared to the first quarter. Defi also slipped, falling to less than 19% against more than 26%.
On the other hand, the social DAPPs linked to AI gain ground. Farcaster leads social with around 40,000 UAW per day, while in AI, protocols based on agents such as virtual (virtual) protocol stand up, attracting 1,900 UAW weekly.
Defi attracts great players
Transaction counts show the frequency to which intelligent contracts are triggered, but can be inflated by bots or automation.
The DEFI transaction footprint is paradoxical. Its user base has decreased, but it always generates more than 240 million weekly transactions – more than any other web3 category. The activity linked to exchange (can overlap with DEFI) adds to this domination, with crypto games following 100 million weekly transactions and the “other” category (with social exclusion but including AI) to 57 million.
Total locked (TVL) value tells an even stronger story. According to Defillama, Defi TVL reached $ 137 billion – up 150% since January 2024, although still below its top of $ 177 billion at the end of 2021.
The divergence between the increase in TVL and the fall of the UAW reflects a key theme of this cryptographic cycle: institutionalization. Capital is concentrated in less larger portfolios, which now also includes funds. This trend is still young, because Defi faces regulatory uncertainty in many jurisdictions.
However, the institutions test water by providing liquidity to authorized pools, lending against token treasures from platforms like Ondo Finance (ONDO) and Maple (Syrop), the latter known for its partnership with the Investment Bank Cantor Fitzgerald.
Meanwhile, automation at the level of the protocol offered by the DEFI services like Lido (Lido) or Eigenlayer (Eigen) further reduces the activity of the portfolio, because DEFI evolves in a economical layer in capital oriented towards the production of large -scale elements rather than on retail participation.
Other use cases dominate gas
Transaction data alone do not capture the complete web3 image. The use of Ethereum gas can show where the economic and computer weight really lies.
Glassnode data reveal that DEFI, although it is the key sector of Ethereum, now represents only 11% of its gas consumption. The NFT, which used a large share of gas in 2022, now fell to 4%.
The “other” category, however, reached more than 58% today, against around 25% in 2022. This category covers emerging fields such as the tokenization of real assets (RWA), decentralized physical infrastructure (Depinit), DAPs based on AI and other more or less new services which can define the next web growth phase.
Rwa, in particular, is often called one of the most promising cryptographic sectors. Excluding stablescoins, the total value of RWA increased from $ 15.8 billion at the start of 2024 to 25.4 billion dollars today, with around 346,250 tokens holders.
In relation: At what height will Ethereum price go after having broken $ 4,000? ETH analysts weigh
Do prices follow the web3 stories?
The prices of assets are rarely moving in locking with Onchain’s activity. While beating media can cause short -term points, sustained gains tend to align with the sectors offering tangible utility and adoption. In the past year, this has mean infrastructure and projects focused on the narrative plays.
The pieces of intelligent contract platform displayed the strongest gains, with the top 10 on average of 142%unadreed, led by Hbar (+ 360%) and XLM (+ 334%). As a fundamental layer of web3, their price growth signals investor confidence in long -term development in the sector. The DEFI tokens also behaved well, with an average of 77% in annual sliding, with curve DAO (CRV) up 308% and pendle (pendle) up 110%.
The 10 highest RWA tokens gained 65%on average, driven by XDC (+ 237%) and Ousg (+ 137%). The most efficient Depin, Jasmycoin (Jasmy) at + 72%and Aethir (ATH) at + 39%, could not prevent the average of the sector from hovering around + 10%.
The tokens were the light laggards: the 10 main projects strictly focused on AI are down 25% in annual sliding, with Bittensor (TAO) the only point outside competition at + 34%. The gaming tokens have mainly displayed losses, with only Superverse (super) winning 750% in the last 12 months. Social tokens are largely absent in cryptographic space, because the main protocols are still lacking in native assets.
Overall, web investment is concentrated in mature sectors, which brings native currencies of the main intelligent contract platforms. DEFI and RWA tokens focused on yield also provided solid yields. On the other hand, the sectors behind the most publicized stories – AI, a depolition and social – have not yet translated attention into significant token gains.
As the adoption deepens and that more and more sectors are ripening, the gap between the story and the performance can stop – but for the moment, the confidence of investors is clearly rooted in the constituent elements of the decentralized economy.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and must not be considered as legal or investment advice. The points of view, the thoughts and opinions expressed here are the only of the author and do not reflect or do not necessarily represent the opinions and opinions of Cointellegraph.
