Ethereum maintained market dominance in January 2021 with $112 billion in transaction volume, representing 86% of total blockchain activity and over $30 billion in total value locked.
See it on page 2The NFT sector experienced explosive growth, with Ethereum-based NFT volume increasing tenfold to $33 million, while Flow’s NBA Top Shot surpassed all Ethereum platforms to lead the market with over $40 million in sales.
See it on page 11Binance Smart Chain recorded its strongest performance to date, processing over $15 billion in transaction volume and achieving the highest number of unique active wallets, driven primarily by Venus and PancakeSwap.
See it on page 5Ethereum's DeFi ecosystem remained the primary driver of its activity, accounting for 99% of its network usage with Uniswap and 1inch as the leading platforms.
See it on page 2High gas fees caused by Ethereum's scalability constraints accelerated a migration toward alternative layer-1 blockchains and layer-2 solutions like Matic.
See it on page 8The Wax blockchain’s gaming dapp, Alien Worlds, demonstrated rapid adoption by reaching 8,000 daily active wallets during the month.
See it on page 6The report presents a snapshot of the decentralized‑application (dapp) landscape in January 2021, emphasizing Ethereum’s continued dominance while highlighting the rapid emergence of competing blockchains and the explosive growth of the NFT sector. Across the month, Ethereum generated more than $112 billion in transaction volume—86 % of total blockchain activity—and supported roughly 72 000 daily active wallets (30 % of the market). Its DeFi ecosystem accounted for 99 % of this activity, with Uniswap and 1inch leading in unique wallet usage, while total value locked (TVL) on Ethereum surpassed $30 billion, driven by token price surges and a rise in aTVL to $14 billion.
NFT activity on Ethereum expanded tenfold, from $3 million in December to $33 million in January, propelled by CryptoPunks and the newly launched Hashmasks, which quickly became the top collectible dapp. Meanwhile, the Flow blockchain’s NBA Top Shot achieved over $40 million in sales, overtaking Ethereum‑based NFTs to become the leading NFT platform. Binance Smart Chain (BSC) recorded its strongest month, exceeding $15 billion in transaction volume and generating the highest number of unique active wallets on its network, largely through Venus and PancakeSwap. Wax’s gaming dapp Alien Worlds also posted rapid growth, reaching 8 000 daily active wallets.
Scalability constraints on Ethereum continued to inflate gas fees, prompting migration to layer‑2 solutions such as Matic and to alternative layer‑1 chains. The report’s data derive from DappRadar analytics, covering transaction volumes, wallet activity, and TVL across major protocols (Ethereum, BSC, Wax, Flow, EOS, Tron, and emerging networks like Polkadot and Solana) for the calendar month of January 2021. Overall, the findings indicate a blockchain ecosystem transitioning from DeFi‑centric growth to a new wave dominated by high‑value NFT dapps and diversified cross‑chain activity.
