TL;DR
- DappRadar reported a 45% drop in NFT trading volume in the second quarter, while sales rose 78%.
- OpenSea led activity with a 156% increase in trades, driven by the upcoming $SEA token airdrop and interest in lower-value collections.
- Web3 hacks resulted in $6.3 billion in losses during the quarter, revealing structural flaws in security and fund management.
The NFT market is going through a contradictory phase. While trading volume fell 45% in Q2 2025, sales increased 78% compared to the previous quarter.
A DappRadar report revealed a significant drop in average asset prices, which made NFTs more accessible to new buyers. In total, 12.5 million sales occurred over three months, up from 7 million in Q1 but still below the 15 million transactions from a year earlier.
Price declines also affected the digital art segment, where volume dropped 51% but sales multiplied fivefold. This shows that artwork prices fell sharply, allowing new collectors who were previously priced out by inflated valuations to enter the market.
A notable detail was the performance of domain NFTs, fueled by interest in the TON blockchain. There, Telegram users buy anonymous, number-based domains that can link to accounts without SIM cards—a very specific use case with steady demand during the quarter.
DappRadar Warns About the Rise of Web3 Hacks
Despite a mostly negative landscape, OpenSea stood out. The marketplace saw a 156% increase in trades, boosted by anticipation around its upcoming $SEA token airdrop. This encouraged users to trade lower-value collections to earn points and maximize potential rewards.
Meanwhile, decentralized app activity remained stable with 24.3 million monthly users. The gaming ecosystem remains the most popular, though AI-related projects have gained traction, now holding 18.6% of the market.
The quarter was also marked by an alarming figure: Web3 hacks caused $6.3 billion in losses, one of the worst levels since the FTX collapse. DappRadar noted that despite past incidents, the ecosystem continues to show structural weaknesses in security and fund management, with no concrete progress to prevent such attacks.
