Decentralized applications (DApps) have surged forward in the third quarter of 2024, fueled by the growth of blockchain activity led by artificial intelligence applications. 

According to an Oct. 8 DappRadar report, daily unique active wallets (UAWs) reached a record-breaking 17.2 million, marking a 70% increase from the previous quarter. The rise is largely attributed to the performance of AI-related DApps, which saw a 71% rise in the period, accounting for nearly 4.3 million daily UAWs. 

Key players like Data Intelligence Network (DIN) and Alaya AI are leading the trend.

DIN is a modular data pre-processing layer launched in April 2024. The protocol has reached 1 million daily unique active wallets over the last quarter.

Meanwhile, Alaya is a data collection and labeling platform that has seen its user base activity stable at 100,000 wallets over the past 90 days. 

Activity in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications declined in the quarter, with total value locked (TVL) falling from $168 billion to $160 billion quarter-over-quarter. The Ethereum network experienced a 20% decline in value locked to $95 billion.

DeFi’s total value locked. Source: DappRadar

In contrast, other layer-1 blockchains like Sui and Aptos emerged as top performers, each achieving a 78% increase during the period, with $1.6 billion and 1.3 billion in total value locked, respectively. Related: Hackers have started using AI to churn out malware

NFT trading volume plummet

The non-fungible token (NFT) industry faced a major downturn in the quarter, in stark contrast to its strong performance in the previous 90 days. Trading volume plunged by 60% to $1.6 billion, while NFT sales fell to 11.5 million, a 23% decrease from the previous quarter. 

According to the report, NFT platform OpenSea has experienced a “significant rebound,” emerging as the dominant player across metrics such as number of sales, active traders, and trading volume, which reached $570 million over the period.  

On the other hand, competitors such as Blur and Magic Eden faced sharp declines. Trading volume for Blur, which led the metric in the second quarter, decreased by 78% due to the “winding down of its airdrop incentives.” 

Magic Eder’s cut-off in royalties also impacted its activity, driving creators and traders toward OpenSea. In addition, “the Bitcoin Ordinals hype seems to have vanished, and Magic Eden was extremely popular in that,” notes the analysis. 

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