Games Are Propelling Growth in the Dapps Sphere as DeFi, NFT Lose Pace

Source: Adobe/Parilov

The gaming industry is driving growth in the blockchain-powered decentralized app sector (DApp), with decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) losing ground, according to a new report.

After months of near-continuous growth, the number of unique active wallets (UAW) associated with DeFi fell 11% in the third quarter of the current fiscal year compared to Q2, DappRadar said in its new report. NFT-linked UAWs recorded a smaller decline of 2% compared to the previous quarter.

But gaming continues to drive usage in the blockchain industry, the company explained – with UAW’s “connection to gaming dApps” growing by a whopping 140% over the quarter.

While the authors of the report noted that trading volumes in the NFT space were still increasing and DeFi enjoyed “increased availability”usage” in “both categories” decreased, while “the adoption of DeFi dApps decreased significantly.”

In contrast, gaming ventures have made massive strides, especially the Axie Infinity (AXS) title.

According to its manufacturer Sky Mavis, Axie Infinity has now “surpassed 1.5 Million active users” and generated “over USD 776 million in revenue”, a figure that, as DappRadar noted”easily” surpassed entire blockchains such as the Binance smart chain and Bitcoin.”

Trading volumes were just as meteoric. Last month, Axie Infinity passed the USD 2bn mark for all-time trading volume, a feat not matched by any other dapp. The trading volume of the game is now moving towards the USD 2.2BN mark.

“To put that in perspective,” DappRadar noted”The next collection is CryptoPunks, which is lagging behind $800 million.”

The firm hinted that the move to the Ronin sidechain it created on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain has helped Axie Infinity on its path to greater success.

And DappRadar seemed to suggest that without the game industry, NFTs might well be lagging even further behind.

The company wrote:

“NFTs are one of the most important backbones in blockchain games. Unlike traditional games, NFT Blockchain allows players a real sense of ownership of their game items. And they have become a fundamental part of the entire NFT space.”

The data in the report showed that in-game NFT items “generated $2.3Billion in trading volume” in the third quarter – a figure that represents a massive 22% of the total NFT volume for the quarter.

But it was certainly not all doom and gloom for the DeFi space.

The DeFi space has a total value of around $178bn – although over 92% of it is “locked” to just “six blockchains”.” However, the existing DeFi dApps appear to have gained ground at the end of the previous quarter, as the cumulative locked-in number of the DeFi sector increased by 104% and increased by 10% on June 6. September has reached a peak of USD 195 billion.”