DeFi Dips 27% in Q1 While AI and Social dApps Fuel Web3 Surge – DappRadar Report

• Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi fell 27% to $156B, largely due to market instability and the $1.4B Bybit exploit.

• AI & Social Surge: AI dApps grew 29% and social dApps rose 10%, showing user appetite for emerging use cases.

• ETH dropped 45% in value, affecting DeFi platforms broadly, except for Berachain, which stood out as a rare exception.

The first quarter of 2025 revealed a mixed trend for Web3, as outlined in DappRadar’s latest report. While the DeFi sector struggled through economic turbulence and security breaches, other sectors like AI and social dApps showed promising growth. According to DappRadar’s Q1 2025 report, the decentralized app (dApp) industry saw mixed trends.

Consequently, the daily unique active wallets (dUAW) dropped slightly to 24 million, down 3% from the previous quarter. However, AI and social dApps gained momentum growth, with the reports showing AI dApps surging 29% QoQ to 2.6 million dUAW and social dApps growing 10% to 2.8 million dUAW. 

DeFi Stumbles While AI and Social dApps Thrive in Q1 2025

DeFi Dips 27% in Q1 While AI and Social dApps Fuel Web3 Surge – DappRadar Report 3

According to recent news, the dApp space held its ground in Q1 2025, even as activity cooled slightly. There was strong energy in the crypto world earlier, but things took a hit after Trump entered office, with market uncertainty pulling prices down. That dip usually means fewer people use dApps, but even with that, 24 million daily active wallets were recorded, just a 3% drop from the previous quarter.

Considering the broader economic pressures, this slight decline suggests that user interest in decentralized apps is still holding steady. On the other hand,  DeFi took a heavy blow and was caught in a financial storm. This was caused by the bigger economic uncertainty and the ripple effects of the major Bybit exploit, which pushed confidence and numbers down.

Total Value Locked (TVL) sank by 27%, landing at $156 billion. To make matters worse, Ethereum saw its value drop by 45%. Altogether, it was a tough quarter that reflected how quickly things can shift when trust and stability shake in the system. This downward trend swept through nearly all of the top 10 blockchains by TVL, except Berachain, which managed to buck the pattern.