In the first quarter of 2025, the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols dropped by 27% to $156 billion, largely due to economic uncertainty and the aftermath of a major crypto exchange hack. Ethereum's TVL saw a significant decline of 37%, while the blockchain Sui fell 44% to $2 billion. Conversely, daily unique active wallets (DUAW) for AI and social protocols increased by 29% and 10%, reflecting rising user engagement in these areas amid the DeFi downturn. DappRadar reported explosive growth in AI agent protocols which are now shaping new user behaviors. In contrast, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and GameFi sectors witnessed a regression. Reports indicate that the average DUAWs for AI and social protocols reached 2.6 million and 2.8 million respectively, while traditional DeFi and GameFi protocols fell significantly. The only top-10 blockchain by TVL that showed an increase was the newly launched blockchain, accumulating $5.17 billion.

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