The NFT sector appears to be regaining momentum, with July marking one of its most active months in recent years and even surpassing DeFi in user engagement, according to DappRadar’s latest findings. This shift suggests the market is moving beyond its post-2022 slump and finding new drivers of growth.
Instead of a surge in the number of trades, the rally came from higher-value transactions. July’s NFT sales volume jumped to roughly $530 million, almost doubling from June, while the number of NFTs sold dipped slightly to about 5 million. The average selling price more than doubled to $105, indicating that buyers are showing more interest in premium assets rather than sheer trade counts.
The competitive landscape also shifted. Blur captured the lion’s share of Ethereum-based trading volume — nearly 80% — largely due to professional traders and its Blend lending tool. OpenSea, however, remained the go-to platform for daily active traders, attracting tens of thousands thanks to its multichain listings. On the Base network, Zora gained traction by offering cheaper minting costs through its native token.
What’s striking is the broader role NFTs are beginning to play. They’re no longer solely about art collections — use cases now range from digital identity solutions to event ticketing, gaming ecosystems, and tokenized versions of physical assets.
DeFi, while slightly overshadowed in the headlines, also had an impressive July. Total value locked climbed above $259 billion and briefly touched a record $270 billion, fueled by new liquidity and rising asset prices. Ethereum maintained a commanding lead with $166 billion in TVL, boosted by both price gains and staking yields near 30% APY. Solana followed with $23 billion, helped by the rapid growth of Hyperliquid, a derivatives-focused platform.
One of the most notable DeFi trends was the explosive growth of tokenized stocks. User interactions with these assets skyrocketed, pushing their total market cap up by more than 200%, showing strong appetite for blending traditional finance with blockchain infrastructure.
