In April 2025, the Web3 industry showed great resilience, maintaining 23 million daily active wallets even after the global market chaos triggered by President Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
While traditional stocks and crypto saw turbulent times, decentralized apps (dapps) proved they are staying in power with AI at the forefront.
AI dapps surged 26% in activity, reaching 3.8 million daily users and claiming 16% market dominance, just behind DeFi and Gaming (21% each).
Projects like Dmail Network, which allows users to send encrypted emails to Gmail and Yahoo, are at the vanguard of Web2 and Web3 transition which is proof that practical AI applications are here to stay. Meanwhile, social dapps also grew by 18%, showing users still crave decentralized alternatives to traditional platforms.
DeFi Rebounds, NFTs Shift to Utility, and Memecoins Steal the Show
In the wake of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs the DeFi sector saw a drop in Total Value Locked (TVL) reaching 12% overnight. But it staged a strong comeback, ending April at $166 billion, a 6% monthly gain.
The breakout performer was Sui, who surged 70% thanks to new Bitcoin DeFi partnerships alongside RWA and yield products becoming major focus areas.
NFTs, however, hit another rough patch. Trading volume fell 19% to $199 million, but not all categories suffered. Metaverse NFTs saw a 69% growth (coming from The Sandbox), domain NFTs rose 40% (due to Telegram username trading), and membership-based NFTs emerged.
On the other hand, memecoins from Solana’s Pump.fun took the lead on both the trading forums and social networks, outpacing even major DeFi and gaming apps, proving that speculative hype still drives engagement.
Security Failures Cast a Shadow Over Web3’s Progress
However, April’s biggest setback was security or the lack of it. A staggering 5.9 billion was lost to hacks and exploits, a 2,007% spike due to the 5.5 billion collapse of Mantra DAO, which also brought to light very serious issues with centralized token control and low liquidity. Which exposed critical flaws in centralized token control and low liquidity.
The incident served as a wake-up call that Web3’s infrastructure remains fragile, despite its growing maturity.
