Report: Blockchain app transaction volume down nearly 40%
Gambling is still the number one use-case
The total transactional volume of blockchain apps (dapps) across the six major dapp-centric networks hit just $2.03 billion last quarter, down by nearly 40 percent.
More troubling, just 148 dapps launched in Q3 of this year. That’s less than the monthlyaverage of the first half of 2019 (when 164 new ones were deployed every month).
Still, over half of those transactions were related to cryptocurrency gambling, reports dapp explorer Dapp.com with its latest quarterly analysis.
The one shining light, however, is the rising popularity of decentralized finance (DeFi) dapps — particularly those that run on Ethereum.
Users aren’t sticking around to use their favorite dapps
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Dapp.com’s research indicates that over $525 million flowed through DeFi dapps last quarter, and 88 percent of that was processed on the Ethereum blockchain.
The firm recorded more than 500,000 new dapp users last quarter. Approximately 138,000 (27.6 percent) arrived just for DeFi, while over 170,000 (34 percent) were brought in by the allure of gambling their cryptocurrency.
This made DeFi the second-largest category in terms of volume, after gambling.
The thing is, just 36 percent of users from Q2 used their dapps at least once in Q3. But, thanks to DeFi apps like MakerDAO and Nest, an influx of new users has kept Ethereum dapp activity relatively steady.
“Only slightly more than 80,000 ETH holders used dapps in both Q2 and Q3,” said Dapp.com. “But the wave of DeFi has given the best growth for Ethereum dapp users — over 310,000 new dapp users in a quarter, the highest of all time so far.”
EOS users are still all about cryptocurrency gambling
User retention for rival network EOS is reportedly relatively strong. The amount of mainnet accounts and new dapp users on EOS grew slower than Ethereum and TRON last quarter, but 40 percent of previous EOS dapp users actually stuck around.
To compare, just five percent of Ethereum users remained quarter-to-quarter, while 15 percent of TRON users did the same.
“Less than 220,000 new EOS accounts were created in Q3, and 80,000 EOS holders have started using dapps in Q3,” said Dapp.com.
TRON stats still show its users love to gamble
According to Dapp.com, TRON added another 500,000 mainnet addresses last quarter, pushing its total to over 3.7 million, the highest of any blockchain platform that launched since 2017.
The firm also noted that TRON is still the second most popular blockchain for deploying dapps, just after Ethereum.
However, just like last quarter, most of TRON’s active dapp users, dapp transactions, and transactional dapp volume directly relates to gambling.Eighty-six percent of TRON’s dapp volume is gambling-specific. This makes TRON the least diverse of the major dapp-centric blockchains.
The unfortunate truth is that still, years after the most popular blockchains launched, those running dapps are primarily here to gamble away their cryptocurrency.
