Web3 gaming, DeFi lead sector activity in October despite market decline: Report

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Despite a dip in active wallets and DeFi losses, blockchain gaming and decentralized finance continued to drive most Web3 activity last month.

Blockchain gaming and decentralized finance (DeFi) remained the most active sectors in Web3 in October, despite a 3% decline in total daily active wallets to 16 million, according to a new report from DappRadar.

Web3 gaming accounted for 27.9% of all decentralized application (DApp) activity over the past month, its highest share of the year, while DeFi maintained solid engagement at 18.4%, despite market volatility and ongoing regulatory pressure.

The most widely used DApps include Raydium, Pump.fun, Jupiter Exchange, OKX Dex and PancakeSwap v2.

Yet, the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi fell 6.3% in October to $221 billion and dropped another 12% in early November to $193 billion, thanks to broader market decline and regulatory uncertainty.

Meanwhile, trading of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) rose by 30% in October to $546 million, reaching 10.1 million transactions — the highest monthly count of 2025.

DeFi takes a hit but responds

DeFi’s October downturn was compounded by the Oct. 10 market crash, which wiped out about $20 billion in leveraged positions across lending platforms and major exchanges.

The pressure continued when DeFi protocol Stream Finance suffered a $93 million loss on Wednesday, raising concerns about stablecoin credit exposure and prompting analysts to uncover another $284 million in related vulnerabilities across the ecosystem.

Regulatory uncertainty also weighed on DeFi in October after several US Senate Democrats proposed extending Know Your Customer (KYC) rules to non-custodial wallets, a move critics warned could drive DeFi activity offshore.

On Thursday, major Ethereum stakeholders launched the Ethereum Protocol Advocacy Alliance (EPAA), uniting leading DeFi foundations, including Aave, Uniswap, Lido, Curve and The Graph, to coordinate policy efforts and ensure that decentralized infrastructure is represented in crypto regulation.

Also on Thursday, the modular oracle network RedStone launched Credora, a DeFi-focused risk ratings platform designed to enhance transparency and credit assessment across lending protocols.

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