Quick take:
- NFTs and the metaverse interest remained resilient during the first quarter despite a slowdown in the crypto industry.
- According to an industry behavioural report published by DappRadar, the terms Web3 and the Metaverse remained popular on Twitter.
- The United States, Indonesia, India, and Turkey led the charts for regions most interested in the topic.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) transactions hit a record high of 116 million in Q1, growing 153% from Q1 last year, while interest in the metaverse continued to soar according to data compiled by crypto analytics and insights platform DappRadar.
The report also shows that the so-called Ethereum killers continued to gain more traction with Avalanche-based transactions increasing by 100% whereas Ethereum transactions reduced by 8%. The leading decentralised apps platform is now processing 58% fewer transactions compared to Q1 of last year.
“Avalanche is processing 100% transactions more than in December and 10,500% more than a year ago. Polygon hosts 2,000% more transactions than one year ago, and Solana has scaled its transactions by 9,700% from Q1 last year,” DappRadar wrote.
According to the report, the surge in NFT transactions was driven by the growing adoption of blockchain gaminghttps://dappradar.com/blog/behavior-report-macroeconomic-events-accelerate-crypto-adoption-and-regulations, which accounted for 78%, a 22% increase from Q4, 2021 and a whopping 520% higher from Q1, last year.
The GameFi segment of the crypto industry continued to gain the interest of venture capital investors, who poured $2.5 billion worth of capital in Q1.
“The growth of the NFT market in Layer-1 alternatives, namely Avalanche and Solana, acts as support as the demand for Ethereum NFTs stabilizes from January’s record levels,” the report reads.
The shift towards Ethereum has also triggered interesting behavioural trends, with the need to transfer tokens in and out of the network rising to new highs.
“The value locked in blockchain bridges, platforms that enable cross-chain transfers, surpasses $50 billion, becoming a desirable target for malicious attacks.” Hackers have already stolen more than $1 billion by exploiting bridging protocols and community channels this year alone.
Interest in the metaverse has also remained solid despite slightly cooling off from the October 2021 peak when Facebook rebranded to Meta Platforms. According to the DappRadar report, “a social analysis measuring Twitter mentions trends shows that the appetite for the Web3 metaverse appears to be gaining steam.”
The United States, Indonesia, India, and Turkey led the charts for regions most interested in the topic while emerging countries like The Philippines, Vietnam, and Nigeria are also popular in the charts.
Analysts are pointing to an influx in mainstream brands and leading celebrities as part of the reason the metaverse continues to attract more activity. Several global brands have filed trademark applications to position themselves in the market.
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