DeFi TVL fell 27% in Q1 as AI and social dApps drove web3 growth

The first quarter of 2025 was a turbulent period for web3, with the AI ​​and the social DAPPs gaining ground while decentralized finances suffered a sharp drop.

The total value locked in DEFI dropped from 27% to $ 156 billion, according to DAPPRADAR T1 2025 report. Defi’s decline was caused by several high -level security violations, the drop in cryptography prices and macroeconomic uncertainty.

The greatest blow was the feat of $ 1.4 billion in Bebit, which the FBI connected to the Traderraera Group of North Korea. In this feat, the pirates stole approximately 401,000 Ethereum (Ethn), converted it into Bitcoin (BTC) and other assets, and distributed it between the wallets.

The DEFI position was affected by a 45% drop in ETH during the quarter. Except for Berachain (He), which grow Following its main launch, a distribution event of tokens and a financing cycle of 142 million dollars, most of the large blockchains experienced a drop in DEFI activity.

While DEFI has fought, the DAPPS fed by the AI ​​thrive, as shown by the 29% increase in unique active portfolios to 2.6 million. In addition, the number of social DAPPs increased by 10% to 2.8 million duaw. This change was largely due to sites like Pump.fun, which allowed users to launch new tokens. Pump.fun saw an increase of 112% of the activity.

NFTS also had a lower quarter, with a 24% decline in negotiation volume at $ 1.5 billion. The fact that sales drop only 10%, however, indicate a drop in prices rather than a massive release. The PFP collections represented the majority of sales, representing 56% of the total volume of NFT. In terms of transactions, Opensea continued to be the most popular market, but OKX had the highest commercial volume.

Meanwhile, more than $ 2 billion was lost to scams and hacks. The carpet draws like Balance and Melania resulted in losses of $ 450 million, but $ 1.5 billion exploit was by far the biggest security violation event. A hacking of $ 50 million in the Infinite Stablecoin platform has also exposed the underlying security defects in the industry.