Key highlights:

A new report by DappReview shows that DeFi is the main driver of Ethereum's DApp ecosystem

DeFi apps saw a 778% jump in volume in Q1 2020 compared to Q1 2019

Ethereum DApps saw $5.67 billion in volume in Q1 2020

DeFi dominates the Ethereum DApp ecosystem in terms of volume

Ethereum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols saw 778% more volume in Q1 2020 compared to Q1 2019, according to a new report released by DappReview. The report also notes that DeFi is the main driver of volume growth for the Ethereum decentralized application (DApp) ecosystem. DappReview divides the DeFi sector into “Finance” DApps, which includes DApps like Maker, Augur and Compound and “Exchange” DApps, which include DApps such as Uniswap and Kyber Network.

In terms of Q1 2020 volume, “Risk” DApps took second place behind the DeFi sector. DApps that fall into the “Risk” category are usually various smart contract-powered schemes designed to reward a small portion of the users at the expense of the majority of other users. “Casino” Dapps came in third place with slightly less volume than “Risk” DApps.

Image source: DappReview

Ethereum DApps saw $5.67 billion in volume during the first quarter of 2020, compared to the $743 million figure from Q1 2019. The lion’s share of the volume (84%) came in the form of ERC-20 tokens and not ETH itself.

DappReview identified over 420,000 active addresses that interacted with DApps in Q1 2020. However, the report does note that a significant portion of these addresses are likely operated by bots:

“The total number of Ethereum active addresses in 2020 Q1 is 422,871, and 243,252 of them are Risk dapps users, accounting for 52.29% of the total, mainly from Doubleway and MillionMoney. From our observation, a large number of these addresses playing Ponzi schemes are bots trying to manipulate the users/volume stats.”

Meanwhile, around 33,300 addresses interacted with DApps in the “Finance” category, representing 234% growth compared to Q1 2019.

EOS and TRON are the only other significant contenders in the DApp space

Ethereum continues to be the dominant platform for decentralized applications, surpassing all others in terms of the total DApp count, the number of active DApps, the amount of new DApps, the amount of active users as well as volume.

EOS and TRON remain the strongest competitors to Ethereum when it comes to DApps, with ICON sitting in a very distant 4th place.

Image source: DappReview