The decentralized application (DApp) industry ended the third quarter of 2025 with mixed results, as decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity surged to a record high while user activity fell sharply, according to new data from DappRadar.
In a report sent to Cointelegraph, DappRadar said that daily unique active wallets averaged 18.7 million in Q3, down 22.4% compared to the second quarter. Meanwhile, DeFi protocols collectively locked in $237 billion, the highest total value locked (TVL) ever recorded in the space.
The report highlights an ongoing divergence between institutional capital flowing into blockchain-based financial platforms and the engagement of retail users with DApps. While DeFi TVL reached record levels of liquidity, overall activity lagged, suggesting weaker retail participation.
“Looking at the entire quarter, every category noted a drop in active wallets, but the impact was mostly felt in the Social and AI categories,” DappRadar wrote. AI-focused DApps lost over 1.7 million users, going from a daily average of 4.8 million in Q2 to 3.1 million in Q3, while SocialFi DApps went from 3.8 million to 1.5 million in Q3.
DappRadar attributed DeFi’s record liquidity to several converging factors, including growing institutional exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) and stablecoins, regulatory clarity from the US GENIUS Act, and new infrastructure supporting real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.
DappRadar said that stablecoins have emerged as a bridge between cryptocurrency and traditional finance. As Cointelegraph previously reported, stablecoin inflows reached $46 billion in Q3, led by Tether’s USDt (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC).
Apart from stablecoins themselves, platforms dedicated to stablecoins emerged, contributing to the increase in DeFi TVL.
DappRadar pointed to Plasma, a layer-1 chain built specifically for stablecoins, debuting with over $8 billion in TVL in its first month.
Related: $10B in Ethereum awaits exit as validator withdrawals surge
During the quarter, Ethereum maintained its lead as the top DeFi network with $119 billion in locked assets, despite a modest 4% decline compared to Q2. Solana, currently in second place, saw its DeFi TVL decline by 33% to $13.8 billion in Q3.
While the top two DeFi networks in terms of TVL showed a slowdown in momentum, the third-biggest network in DeFi TVL, BNB Chain, saw a 15% gain in locked assets during the quarter.
DappRadar attributed the increase in BNB Chain TVL to the launch of the perpetual decentralized exchange (DEX) Aster, which gained traction in September.
While Aster volumes skyrocketed within the perpetual trading space, data aggregator DefiLlama doubted the integrity of Aster’s data.
According to DefiLlama co-founder 0xngmi, trading volumes on Aster started mirroring Binance Perp volumes almost exactly. As a result, the platform delisted Aster from its site.
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