DeFi soars with tokenized stocks, but user activity shifts to NFTs: Report

Locked liquidity on decentralized finance (DeFi) applications reached a record $270 billion in July, partly driven by tokenized stocks growth. 

DappRadar’s data shows the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols jumped 30% month-over-month, while active wallets for tokenized stocks soared from roughly 1,600 to more than 90,000, pushing their market cap up 220%.

Meanwhile, NFT trading volumes jumped 96% to $530 million during the month. The average NFT price also doubled to around $105 as more users engaged with the market.

Related: OpenSea expands to mobile with Rally deal, eyes ‘onchain everything app’

NFT activity edges ahead of DeFi

While DeFi liquidity climbed, user attention shifted elsewhere. In July, approximately 3.85 million of the 22 million daily active wallets interacted with NFT DApps — slightly more than were active in DeFi.

Ethereum-based marketplace Blur drove much of the activity, capturing up to 80% of daily NFT volume, while OpenSea topped active users at roughly 27,000 traders. Zora also gained momentum with its creator-first layer 2 and $ZORA token for low-cost minting.

Major brands continued experimenting with NFTs. Nike.SWOOSH partnered with EA Sports for virtual sneaker drops, and Louis Vuitton, Rolex and Coca-Cola (China) launched authentication and collectible pilots. 

NFT trading volume also rose about 36% in July to $530 million, up from $389 million in June, though it’s still down from its 2025 high of $997 million in January.

As reported by Cointelegraph, there has been a resurgence in interest in OG NFT collections like CryptoPunks. Data from NFT Floor Price shows the Ethereum-based collection is up over 25% the past month.

During the past 24 hours, nine of the top 10 NFT sales were CryptoPunks: The lone non-Punk sale being an NFT from the Web3 artist Beeble.

NFT market is still far from its 2021 boom

Despite July’s rebound, NFTs are still underwhelming compared to past peaks. DappRadar’s 2024 industry overview shows that NFT trading volume dropped 19% year‑over‑year, and sales counts declined 18%, making 2024 one of the weakest years since 2020. 

CryptoSlam data for H1 2025 further underscores the slow recovery: NFT sales totaled $2.82 billion, down 4.6% from the second half of 2024.

While there was a notable resurgence in July, with trading volume and floor prices rising, the market still well below its 2021 highs, when trading volumes ran into the tens of billions.

Web3 Gamer: GUN token’s $69M milestone, Pudgy Penguins go to LOL Land