DApp Annual Report: 4,464 Active DApps, Ethereum's Annual Active Address Count Drops to Third

*Author: Carol, * PANews

With the development of DeFi and NFTs, DApps have made significant progress in successfully landing on the C-end of the blockchain, and the outline of Web 3.0 is becoming vaguely visible. However, in 2022, affected by changes in the overall market environment, the development of DApps did not experience the same breakthroughs as in the previous two years, remaining relatively stable overall. Apart from the M2E craze that emerged at the beginning of the year, storage and social media DApps have also attracted considerable attention, but these new changes are still in the accumulation of quantitative changes and have not yet formed the power to drive qualitative changes in the industry.

The importance of DApps to the development of the industry is self-evident. This article from PAData, a data news column under PANews, will review the development of DApps over the past year, analyzing the status of all 4,464 DApps across eight public chains: Ethereum, EOS, Tron, Solana, Avalanche, BNB Chain, Polygon, and Optimism. It will also analyze the top 50 DApps by user activity among the five major DApp types: Games, DeFi, Marketplace, Collectibles, and Social & Media, attempting to comprehensively present the DApps of 2022 from the intersection of "public chain x type x user."

Summary:

1) The DApps on BNB Chain and Ethereum are mainly composed of three types, covering all types, while the ecosystems on the other six public chains consist of only 1-2 types, with some types missing. Collectibles on Ethereum have surpassed DeFi to become the dominant type, accounting for about 50% of the total.

2) Estimating the annual active address count based on the average daily active addresses of each active DApp over the last 30 days, the estimated total number of active addresses for the 4,464 active DApps across the eight public chains is approximately 113 million. Among them, BNB Chain users are the most active, followed by Polygon, Ethereum, and Optimism.

3) This year, only the active addresses of the top Social & Media applications showed an upward trend, with a cumulative increase of 1583.75% from January to December. In contrast, the other four categories of DApps saw declines ranging from 50% to 80%.

4) Similarly, only the transaction counts of the top Social & Media applications increased this year, with a cumulative increase of 715.26% from January to December. The other four categories all experienced varying degrees of decline, with Games seeing a decrease of 17.47%, which was relatively small.

5) The top 20 DApps had an average monthly total revenue of approximately $15.2 million, showing a significant downward trend throughout the year. Total revenue in January reached $515 million, but by December, it had dropped to $24 million, resulting in an annual decline of 95.34%. The average annual total revenue for the 20 DApps was approximately $8.3 million.

The estimated annual active addresses for 4,464 DApps is 113 million, and DeFi is no longer the dominant application type on Ethereum.

Major public chains have long regarded the construction of DApp ecosystems as a primary development strategy. According to monitoring by DappRadar, the public chains with a large number of DApps and active addresses are mainly Ethereum, EOS, Tron, Solana, Avalanche, BNB Chain, Polygon, and Optimism. PAData has collected 4,464 active DApps from these eight public chains, all of which had non-zero active addresses in the last 30 days.

According to statistics, from the perspective of "public chain x type," BNB Chain has surpassed Ethereum to become the public chain with the most active DApps, with a total of 1,779 observed. Among them, DeFi is the dominant type on BNB Chain, with 709 DApps, accounting for about 40% of the total. Additionally, HighRisk and Games are also major types on BNB Chain, with 456 and 346 DApps, respectively, accounting for approximately 26% and 20%.

Furthermore, the number of active DApps on Ethereum has also exceeded 1,000, reaching 1,259. Among them, Collectibles have surpassed DeFi to become the dominant type, with 625 observed, accounting for about 50% of the total. DeFi and Games have become major types, with 304 and 160 DApps, respectively, accounting for approximately 24% and 13%.

Overall, the DApps on BNB Chain and Ethereum are mainly composed of three types, covering all types, while the ecosystems on the other six public chains consist of only 1-2 types, with some types missing. For example, Polygon, which ranks third in terms of active DApp count, has 887 active DApps, of which 442 are DeFi DApps, accounting for about 50%, and 162 are Games, accounting for about 18%. Avalanche, which ranks fourth in active DApp count, has 197 active DApps, of which 106 are DeFi, accounting for about 54%. The number of active DApps on TRON, EOS, Optimism, and Solana is relatively small, primarily dominated by DeFi.

From the perspective of "public chain x user," estimating the annual active address count based on the average daily active addresses of each active DApp over the last 30 days, the estimated total number of active addresses for the 4,464 active DApps across the eight public chains is approximately 113 million. Among them, BNB Chain users are the most active, followed by Polygon, Ethereum, and Optimism. The estimated annual active address count for the 1,779 active DApps on BNB Chain is 53.02 million, far exceeding that of the other seven public chains. Next, the estimated annual active address count for the 887 active DApps on Polygon is 24.65 million, while the estimated annual active address counts for all active DApps on Ethereum and Optimism also exceed 10 million. The remaining four public chains have fewer active DApps, resulting in lower estimated annual active address counts.

However, it should be noted that the overall market atmosphere has been sluggish in the last 30 days, leading to a decrease in active address counts, which may result in an underestimation of the annual active address counts. Nevertheless, this does not affect the comparison of active addresses across different public chains.

To eliminate the impact of the total number of active DApps on observing the active address counts of DApps on each public chain, PAData also calculated the average estimated annual active addresses for individual DApps on each public chain. After removing extreme high values, the median estimated annual active addresses for individual DApps is highest on Solana, at approximately 1,782, followed by Optimism, at approximately 1,387. The median estimated annual active addresses for individual DApps on other public chains are generally around 100-300.

From the distribution of forms, it can be seen that the estimated annual active address distribution for individual active DApps across public chains is quite dispersed, significantly influenced by low-activity long-tail DApps. To correct this influence, PAData focused on observing the average estimated annual active addresses for the top 50 DApps (the top 50 by average daily active addresses over the last 30 days) on each public chain.

According to statistics, the median estimated annual active addresses for the top 50 DApps on BNB Chain and Polygon are the highest, at approximately 155,100 and 143,600, respectively, followed by Ethereum, where the median estimated annual active addresses for the top 50 individual DApps is approximately 65,900. The median estimated annual active addresses for the top 50 individual DApps on other public chains are mostly around 5,000-7,000.

Top Games Have 245 Million Annual Active Addresses, Social Media Shows Significant Increases in Active Addresses and Transaction Counts

Different types of DApps exhibit significant differences in user scale and behavior patterns. Currently, the most numerous and noteworthy DApp types include Games, DeFi, Marketplace, Collectibles, and Social & Media. Although there are many HighRisk and Gambling DApps, these two categories have never been considered key areas for the future development of DApps, and thus will not be further observed.

PAData selected the top 10 active DApps with the highest active address counts in the last 30 days from each category (hereinafter referred to as top DApps). Among them, SimpleFX in DeFi, Collect Trump Cards, Valhalla, Art Blocks Experimental, and LaLiga Golazos in Collectibles, and Blur in Marketplaces had high active address counts in the last 30 days, but due to insufficient data collection time (less than 3 months), they were not considered. The next highest-ranked DApps were included until each type was filled with 10 DApps. Additionally, the focus here is on the differences in user scale and behavior patterns among different types of DApps, so while the specific selection of DApps has some randomness, it does not affect the validity of the assumption that the performance of top applications is generally representative.

From the perspective of multi-chain layout, the top DApps in Marketplaces and DeFi have 6-7 that have achieved multi-chain layouts across more than two public chains, with 4-5 achieving multi-chain layouts across more than five public chains. In Games, there are also five DApps that have completed multi-chain layouts across two public chains, but in Collectibles and Social & Media, only 1-2 DApps have achieved multi-chain layouts. Overall, the multi-chain layout of various types of DApps is a trend, but there is still room for further expansion of multi-chain layouts in multiple types, including Games, as increased cross-chain circulation is beneficial for enhancing the usability of DApps.

From the perspective of "type x user," the total number of active addresses for the 50 top DApps across the five major categories is approximately 455 million for the year. Among them, the total number of active addresses for the top DApps in Games is 245 million, the highest among all types. Next is DeFi, with the total number of active addresses for the top DApps at 114 million, while Collectibles has the lowest total of only 5.67 million.

Moreover, the active addresses of top applications in Collectibles show little variation and are relatively concentrated, with the median annual active addresses for individual top DApps being only 81,300, and the highest only reaching 3.2 million. Similarly, the median annual active addresses for individual top DApps in Social & Media are also low, at approximately 271,900. In contrast, the annual active addresses for top applications in Games and DeFi are much higher, with medians reaching 9.7443 million and 2.9843 million, respectively, and both having maximum values exceeding 8 million. The characteristic of Marketplaces is that there is a significant disparity between top applications, so although the maximum annual active addresses exceed 36 million, the median is only 1.4461 million.

Additionally, regarding the changes in active addresses for top applications in each category, one noteworthy point is that this year, only the active addresses of top Social & Media applications showed an upward trend, increasing from a cumulative 400,000 active addresses in January to 6.68 million in December, with an annual increase of 1583.75%. In contrast, the annual active addresses for the other four categories of DApps showed a downward trend, with declines ranging from 50% to 80% from January to December.

Furthermore, transaction counts and transaction amounts are also aspects of user behavior patterns. In terms of transaction counts, the total transaction count for the 50 top DApps across the five major categories is approximately 8.275 billion for the year. Among them, the top DApps in Games had the highest total transaction count, approximately 7.14 billion, accounting for about 86% of the total. Next are Marketplaces, with the total transaction count for top DApps at approximately 777 million. The total transaction counts for top DApps in Collectibles and Social & Media are relatively low, at only 30.26 million and 56.82 million, respectively. This is related to the characteristics of the application types themselves, as Games exhibit ultra-high-frequency interaction features, while Collectibles and Social & Media typically require interaction during NFT minting, resulting in lower interaction frequencies.

From the annual changes in transaction counts, again, only Social & Media showed growth, with the total transaction counts for its top DApps rising from 1.5549 million in January to 12.6763 million in December, resulting in an annual increase of 715.26%. The other four categories all experienced varying degrees of decline, with the total transaction counts for top DApps in Games decreasing by 17.47% from January to December, which was relatively small, while the total transaction counts for Collectibles saw a significant decline of over 84%.

In terms of transaction amounts (the amounts involved in transactions occurring during interactions with DApp contracts), the total transaction amount for the 50 top DApps across the five major categories is approximately $2.21 trillion for the year. Among them, the annual total transaction amount for top DeFi DApps is approximately $2.19 trillion, accounting for about 99% of the total. The transaction amounts for other types of DApps are quite small, with the smallest being around $6 million for the top DApps in Social & Media for the year.

Combining transaction counts, it can be seen that the user behavior characteristics of Games exhibit clear small-value ultra-high-frequency interactions, while DeFi shows ultra-high-value medium-frequency interactions, and both Collectibles and Social & Media demonstrate ultra-small-value ultra-low-frequency interactions.

Affected by the overall market environment, the total transaction amounts for the five major categories of top DApps showed a significant downward trend throughout the year, with the transaction amounts for Collectibles, Games, and Marketplaces declining by over 95% from January to December. The category with the lowest decline during the same period was Social & Media, at approximately 20%.

The average number of developers for top applications is 437, and the average monthly total revenue has significantly dropped to $24 million.

Finally, PAData also compiled statistics on the development and revenue situation of top applications. According to data from TokenTerminal, the 15 DApps with the highest number of developers include Chainlink, yearn.Finance, The Graph, MakerDAO, Uniswap, Lido Finance, Rarible, Synthetix, Balancer, Trader Joe, Livepeer, UMA, Aave, Opensea, and SushiSwap.

The average monthly total number of developers for these 15 DApps is approximately 437, with the total number of developers in the first half of the year being higher than in the second half, indicating that development activity was higher in the first half. Overall, the development activity showed a downward trend throughout the year. March, April, and June were periods of relatively high development activity, with monthly developer counts exceeding 480. In contrast, October and December were periods of lower development activity, with monthly developer counts below 400.

Looking at individual DApps, the average total number of developers per DApp for the year is approximately 29. Among them, Chainlink had the highest average monthly developer count, reaching 75. Additionally, MakerDAO, The Graph, and yearn.Finance also had relatively high average monthly developer counts, all exceeding 30.

According to data from TokenTerminal, the 20 DApps with the highest cumulative total revenue (total fees received) include LooksRare, Opensea, dYdX, PancakeSwap, Convex Finance, Ethereum Name Service, MakerDAO, Decentral Games, Axie Infinity, Synthetix, GMX, Lido Finance, 1inch, yearn.finance, SushiSwap, Aave, Trader Joe, X2Y2, Tornado Cash, and SpookySwap.

The average monthly total revenue for these 20 DApps is approximately $15.2 million, showing a significant downward trend throughout the year. Total revenue in January reached $515 million, but by December, it had dropped to $24 million, resulting in an annual decline of 95.34%. After June, the total monthly revenue for these 20 DApps has not exceeded $70 million, indicating that the revenue situation for DApps is significantly affected by the overall market environment.

Looking at individual DApps, LooksRare and Opensea are the two NFT trading markets with the highest total revenue for the year, reaching $552 million and $450 million, respectively. However, other DApps had much lower total revenues, with only dYdX and PancakeSwap exceeding $100 million among DeFi DApps. The average total revenue for the 20 DApps for the year is approximately $8.3 million, but if extreme high values are excluded and the median is considered, it drops to only $3.5 million. Overall, the revenue performance of top DApps is still relatively good.