Decentralized applications store DappRadar recently published their annual Dapp Industry Report, highlighting records for the decentralized application (dApp) space.
As noted in a release shared with CI, 2021 saw the blockchain or distributed ledger tech (DLT) industry expand “across verticals, with usage growing sevenfold as compared with 2020 to reach a 2.7-million record of daily unique active wallets connected to dApps.”
2021’s highlight, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) reached an “all-time high of $23 billion in sales as celebrities, sports teams and big brands entered the market, ranking marketplaces like OpenSea, Atomic Market, and Solanart among the most popular dapps.”
Riding on the “hype” from Facebook’s rebranding to Meta, virtual land sold for “as much as $2.5 million a piece, marking a 500% price appreciation, while the floor market cap for the top 100 collections hit an estimated $16.7 billion,” the update from DappRadar revealed.
Blockchain-powered games also had “a record-breaking year, with the play-to-earn revolution, spearheaded by Axie Infinity, driving 1.4 million daily interactions with games dApps – almost half of the industry’s usage, and generating $4.5 billion for in-game NFTs.”
The social impact of this trend, particularly in emerging economies like the Philippines and Venezuela, “helped lure the attention of influential VCs, who collectively poured $4 billion in investment into the category in 2021.”
DappRadar Head of Finance and Research Modesta Masoit stated:
“We’ve seen crucial progression in the dapp space this year, placing us on the cusp of mass adoption. While 2020 was ‘The Year of DeFi’, 2021 is certainly ‘The Year of NFTs’, with gaming thrown in in bulk over the last quarter. As these three categories converge, 2022 will, I expect, come to be known as ‘The Year of the Metaverse’, with project supporting and helping navigate this complex, cross-chain and cross-category paradigm stealing the spotlight.””
After 2020 saw billions channeled into the DeFi sector, the category hit “a slowdown in 2021, but also showed considerable signs of maturing as it welcomed Ethereum competitors, such as Solana, Avalanche, and Terra, and, at $200 billion, saw a sevenfold year-on-year increase in the total value locked into the space, despite recent exchange hacks and chilling regulation.”
The update from DappRadar further revealed:
“While 60% of DeFi’s TVL remains on Ethereum, the networks diversifying the segment exploded, with BSC ranking second with TVL of $22.75 billion, and Avalanche – third, with a $12.48 billion TVL. The fourth spot goes to Terra, sitting uncomfortably between Avalanche and Solana.”
Financially speaking, the blockchain sector “witnessed a record-breaking year, with $27 billion in fresh funding poured into cryptocurrency and blockchain companies.”
It is, however, the social aspect of this growth, “with dapps infiltrating the mainstream and big names entering the space, that most poignantly signals that dapps will soon be an everyday feature.” the release noted.
For the complete 2021 Dapp Industry Report, check here: https://dappradar.com/blog/2021-dapp-industry-report