Note: The original text comes from DappRadar!
Disclaimer: The information included in this report is based solely on data from DappRadar’s collection of DApps and NFTs tracked on WAX, and does not include all transactions conducted on the entire WAX blockchain.
WAX has been a big name in the DApp space for years, known for its vibrant ecosystem and continued development. As 2024 kicks off, the DApp space has shown a strong upward trend in the first quarter. This report will take a deep dive into WAX's performance during this period, highlighting the key developments and trends that have influenced its growth. Let's take a closer look at the factors that have driven WAX's success and how it has performed in this dynamic environment.
Key Points
In Q1 2024, WAX had an average of 197,802 unique active wallets interacting with the DApp per day.
The Gaming sector dominates with 70% of wallet activity, securing WAX’s place as the seventh most active blockchain in the gaming space.
WAX’s total value locked (TVL) grew 42% from the previous quarter, reaching $1.46 million as of Q1 2024.
Alien Worlds was the most played game on WAX this quarter, with 6 million total quarterly wallets and 2 million quarterly active wallets, respectively.
NFT trading volume reached $2.4 million, with 687,493 NFTs sold. The most traded NFT series were Alien Worlds, Dungeon Items, and FUNKO collectibles.
1. Overview of WAX On-Chain Activities
In the first quarter of 2024, wallet activity on the WAX blockchain declined, with daily unique active wallets (UAW) decreasing by 33% to an average of 197,802.
WAX’s reputation as a blockchain built specifically for games remains high, with 70% of its activity being for gaming DApps. NFT activity accounts for 16%, and DeFi accounts for 4%. The remaining 10% is for other DApps, such as gambling and high-risk product categories.
Additionally, as active wallets decreased, transaction volume also decreased by 43% from the previous quarter, totaling 445 million transactions.
Part of the reason for the decline in transaction volume is that transaction activity is concentrated in the gaming sector, and not all games are fully on-chain. In addition, some games have implemented anti-bot systems to improve the gaming experience, which has further reduced overall transaction volume. However, as we will cover in Chapter 6, as WAX seeks to move to a deflationary model, this quarter the WAX team also focused on changing token economics to reduce transaction subsidies.
Nonetheless, WAX’s on-chain ecosystem continues to evolve and address new challenges and opportunities.
2. DeFi Ecosystem
WAX is primarily known for its NFT and gaming ecosystem, but its DeFi ecosystem is also growing, with a total value locked (TVL) of $1.46 million at the end of Q1 2024. Its TVL grew 42% from the previous quarter in the thriving DeFi sector.
Here are the top DeFi DApps on the WAX Blockchain based on wallet activity:
AtomicHub: AtomicHub is primarily known as an NFT marketplace, but also has DeFi functionality. It has the highest wallet activity in this category, with 191,000 wallets participating in Q1 2024.
Alcor Exchange: The leading decentralized exchange (DEX) on the WAX blockchain, providing token trading and other DeFi services.
WAXDAO: A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that provides DeFi services such as staking and governance.
DEFI Mining: As the name suggests, this DApp focuses on mining within the DeFi framework, allowing users to earn rewards by participating in blockchain activities.
WaxOnEdge: This DApp provides various DeFi services including staking and yield farming.
These DApps showcase WAX’s expanding DeFi ecosystem as users continue to participate in various decentralized financial activities. While WAX’s main focus remains gaming and NFTs, these DeFi DApps are contributing to its overall growth and diversification.
3. Overview of blockchain game activities
The WAX blockchain has become a vibrant blockchain gaming hub, attracting a diverse range of gamers and game developers. The top games on WAX in Q1 2024 offer users unique genres and gaming experiences, and their on-chain wallet activity also demonstrates the strength of the WAX gaming ecosystem. From base building and simulation games to sci-fi adventures and massively multiplayer online role-playing games, WAX provides a platform for a variety of game styles.
Here are the top 10 games by wallet activity in Q1 2024:
Alien Worlds — A sci-fi game with DeFi and metaverse exploration elements, where players can mine resources and participate in governance. The game is available on a variety of devices including computers and mobile phones.
Taco Studios – This game focuses on managing a virtual taco restaurant, with gameplay centered around economic strategy and resource management.
Wombat Dungeon Master - This is a dungeon crawler game with exploration and combat elements.
Prospectors - An online game that combines real-time economic strategy with resource gathering and construction to provide users with an open world experience.
Thrive on Mars – This game allows players to manage a colony on Mars, with a focus on resource management and strategy.
NFT Panda: World of Fantasy — A fantasy-themed game where players collect NFT cards and use them to fight.
Realm NFT – The game offers players the opportunity to build and explore virtual worlds, with a focus on resource management and exploration.
Spinnia World - A P2E game where players accumulate wealth through various mini-games and mining activities.
The Open Space - A space-themed game that allows players to explore, trade and manage resources.
These games range from simulations and strategy games to adventure games and massively multiplayer online games, demonstrating the breadth of the WAX gaming ecosystem. Each game offers a unique experience for players, which is why the WAX Blockchain continues to gain popularity among players.
4. NFT Activity Overview
WAX’s NFT market slowed down slightly in the first quarter of 2024, with transaction volume falling by 15%, totaling $2.4 million in transactions for the quarter. In addition, sales volume fell by 26%, with 687,493 transactions.
Despite the overall decline, there are some interesting patterns among the top 10 NFT series by trade volume:
Alien Worlds continues to lead the WAX ecosystem, reflecting its strong presence in blockchain gaming. WAX has three gaming-related NFT collections in the top 10, highlighting its appeal to gamers and the gaming community.
Collectibles, especially those from the well-known digital and physical collectibles brand Funko, remain important players in the NFT market. Funko's entry into the Web3 space has been warmly welcomed, which also illustrates the influence of traditional collectibles brands in the NFT space. The success of these brands shows that the connection with Web2 continues to stimulate collectors' interest and participation.
Regarding platforms for trading NFTs on WAX, DappRadar tracks three major markets:
AtomicHub: Known for its extensive NFT collection and user-friendly interface, AtomicHub is a popular destination for buying, selling, and trading digital assets.
Nefty Blocks: This community-focused marketplace provides users with the opportunity to create and trade NFTs while participating in unique events and collaborations.
NFT Hive: NFT Hive is focused on tracking and analyzing NFT activity, providing detailed metrics and insights and a data-centric view of the WAX NFT ecosystem.
5. Meme coin craze
As Mmemcoin has grown from the original Dogecoin into a multi-billion dollar market, meme coins are once again on the radar of the cryptocurrency community. Among these meme coins, WUFFI has emerged and has had a significant impact on the WAX blockchain ecosystem.
WUFFI serves as an incentive token to encourage third-party game developers to build a comprehensive framework for games and future game development.
In addition, a notable trend over the past month has been the “Play/Earn/Use-Airdrop” concept. WUFFI adopted this approach and conducted its first airdrop on April 8 by capturing a snapshot of the first quarter and distributing it on the WAX and Solana blockchains. This airdrop initiative quickly pushed WUFFI’s market value to $60 million.
The project’s success can be attributed to a number of factors, including strategic partnerships with the Solana Mobile and BONK teams, which resulted in airdrops to their respective communities, as well as WUFFI’s pre-launch publicity campaigns that attracted a large number of followers on major social media platforms.
The project has already partnered with over 100 teams to integrate WUF into their games, tools, and communities. In addition, more teams apply to join this growing partner program every day. WUFFI has been verified and audited by major platforms such as DEXTools and DEXScreener, and is listed on these platforms. Its liquidity pool has also been launched on Orca.so and Alcor, as well as Raydium.
Just recently, WUFFI also announced the expansion of its WUF Pack to Coinbase’s BASE blockchain. Ethereum’s Layer 2 liquidity and DAU have surged significantly in the past few weeks.
6. WAX 2024 Roadmap
In this chapter, we will explore the WAX 2024 roadmap, which contains a number of important updates. One of the highlights is EVM integration, providing seamless compatibility with other ecosystems. EVM integration, along with other enhancements such as token economics upgrades, resource improvements, and new marketplace features, heralds a steady and innovative direction for WAX. Let’s dive into the details.
First quarter: basic upgrade
Token Economics Reform: The new token economics model features optional pay-per-transaction fees and a variable inflation rate, which reduces on-chain inflation and funds WAX's operating costs. This update supports the sustainability of the WAX ecosystem, encourages users to transition to PowerUp, and fosters a more efficient financial system.
RAM Improvement: A proof-of-concept project that addresses RAM resource limitations and aims to support over 1 billion active accounts. This initiative is key to scalability, ensuring that developers and users can participate and use the WAX Blockchain at a larger scale.
Node Launchers: Standardized launchers simplify the process of setting up development and production-grade nodes, accelerating adoption of the WAX ecosystem.
Developer Guides - Tic Tac Token Series: This series provides comprehensive operational guides to enable developers to create game smart contracts and integrate on-chain tools to promote innovation in decentralized applications.
Second quarter: continued optimization and expansion
Token Economics Improvement: Adjust the token economics model to ensure the health of the ecosystem and support self-sustaining operations.
Antelope 5.0 Upgrade: Updates WAX to the latest version of Antelope for improved performance.
Continued RAM improvements: Further updates to the resource model to support a billion active accounts and remove paywalls, driving wallet growth.
WAX Sidechain Launcher: This new system helps developers quickly launch production-grade sidechains, fostering innovation and encouraging a diverse WAX Network.
Developer Guide - Slide Puzzle Series: This series explores blockchain state synchronization and integration patterns, providing developers with practical knowledge to create interactive decentralized applications.
Third quarter: Further enhancements
Token Economics Adjustments: Additional adjustments to token economics to ensure the health of the WAX ecosystem.
WAX EVM Sidechain Launcher: This new addition will expand WAX’s multi-chain interconnectivity, allowing for seamless launching of Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) sidechains. The WAX EVM Sidechain Launcher will not only facilitate native compatibility with Ethereum smart contracts, but will also attract developers from the Ethereum community.
Developer Guides: Continuing this series of guides based on community-driven use cases.
Fourth quarter: Reaching new heights
Final adjustments to the token economics model for this year.
Antelope Instant Finality Upgrade: This upgrade provides near-instant transaction confirmations, improving user experience and facilitating a seamless blockchain environment.
Developer Guides: Further guidance focused on advanced integration patterns to help developers create innovative, productive applications.
7. Conclusion
As of Q1 2024, the WAX Blockchain continues to show continued growth and resilience, despite some shifts in activity patterns. Gaming remains core to the WAX ecosystem, accounting for 70% of wallet activity.
The NFT space also performed strongly, accounting for 16% of WAX on-chain activity. While wallet activity and transaction volume declined compared to the previous quarter, major NFT series such as Alien Worlds continued to dominate, which just reflects the continued popularity of NFT-based games.
Meanwhile, WAX’s DeFi ecosystem has gained traction and grown, with a TVL of $1.46 million at the end of Q1 2024. Active wallet activity for major DeFi DApps such as AtomicHub and Alcor Exchange demonstrates growing interest in decentralized finance within the WAX ecosystem.
Looking ahead, WAX will continue to be committed to the gaming and NFT sectors, and will also continue to make efforts in the emerging DeFi field, which will lay a solid foundation for continued growth and innovation throughout 2024.
*Friendly reminder: This article is for popular science purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice!
