DappRadar report reveals NFT sales hit 101 million in 2022

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) play a key role in the cryptocurrency industry. A recent report by DappRadar has revealed that in the past year, NFT and decentralized gaming projects were more popular than decentralized finance (DeFi) applications across many blockchains.

NFT sales in 2022 increased by 67.57%

NFTs play a crucial role in the buzzing Web3 sector. According to a DappRadar report on blockchain and DApp adoption in 2022, NFT sales reached 101 million, representing a 67.57% gain from the previous year.

The report also noted that Ethereum was the largest ecosystem in terms of non-fungible token (NFT) projects. The Ethereum network accounts for 21% of the market share and has processed more than 21.2 million transactions. The second blockchain in market share is Wax, with 14.5 million transactions. Polygon recorded 13.3 million transactions, and Solana had 12.9 million transactions.

During the year, the Solana and ImmutableX networks reported a significant growth in the previous years in transaction activity. Transaction activity on Solana increased by 440%, while the same increased by 315% on ImmutableX. However, no change was reported in the BNB ecosystem, which reported transactions of around 1 million in 2021 and 2022.

NFT and gaming dominate DApps on blockchains

In 2022, there was also a significant shift in the composition of DApps across different blockchains. In 2021, the DeFi space dominated nearly all the 13 chains DappRadar classified in its report. However, the same has not been seen in 2022.

Last year, the market shifted its attention to high-risk gaming and NFT DApps, which displaced the DeFi applications that usually dominate the sector. The report further noted that Ethereum and Cardano were the blockchain networks with the highest number of active developers working on-chain. Ethereum had 223 active protocols during the year, while Cardano had 151 active protocols.

There was also significant growth in the Polkadot and Cosmos networks. The developer activity on Polkadot increased by 16%, and 131.7% on the Cosmos network. The growth of the NFT sector was seen in the Web3 space and went to mainstream culture.

Despite the bear market that rocked the crypto market in 2022, there was a significant adoption of these assets by legacy institutions. Some leading brands, including the NBA, have adopted NFTs, while Amazon released a documentary about NFTs and the people that collect them.

NFT adoption was also seen in China, which banned cryptocurrencies in 2021. Towards the end of 2022, China released the first national NFT marketplace. The marketplace serves as a secondary market for traders who want to exchange digital assets.