Polkadot's Transaction Activity Drops 36.9% Amid Ecosystem Slowdown

Polkadot's ecosystem experienced a significant slowdown in transaction activity during the first quarter of 2025, with a 36.9% quarter-over-quarter drop to 137.1 million transactions. This decline is attributed to more efficient transaction processing by Neuroweb, which was introduced in the first quarter. Despite the overall decrease, three Polkadot-based networks—Moonbeam, Mythos, and Peaq—maintained positive momentum. Moonbeam processed 16.7 million transactions, up 6.5% quarter-over-quarter, accounting for 12.2% of all transactions. Mythos saw a 12% increase to 12.3 million transactions, representing 9% of ecosystem activity. Peaq increased 84% quarter-over-quarter to 10.1 million transactions, making up 7.4% of ecosystem transactions.

However, the total number of monthly active addresses across the Polkadot ecosystem declined from 610,000 to 529,900, a 13.1% quarter-over-quarter decrease. Developer activity was mixed, with the number of average weekly active core developers rising to 122, a 1.5% increase. In contrast, average weekly active ecosystem developers fell 5.7% to 421, while average weekly ecosystem commits dropped 14.4% to just over 3,000. Efforts to improve developer experience and onboarding new contributors, such as the launch of the PAPI Console and the UX Audit Grants Program, failed to stem the worrying trend. Polkadot’s native token, DOT, commenced the quarter with a market capitalization of just below $8 billion, but this had dropped to $6.1 billion by the end of March. At the time of writing, DOT’s market capitalization stood at $5.14 billion.

Critics argue that Polkadot’s performance does not match the hype and funding it has raised. One social media user and crypto trader, Nonzee, brands the network as crypto’s biggest bet that faded into a ghost chain. Nonzee pointed to DOT’s decline from its peak of $55 to its current price of around $3.30. The user also highlighted that Polkadot’s most ambitious governance models could not stop whales from hijacking it. The user claims that of the over $129 million spent by treasury, “most of it had no clear ROI.” While admitting that Polkadot’s tech got better, Nonzee argues that this is pointless without users or narrative. “Polkadot proves tech doesn’t equal traction. It built the chassis of a Web3 supersystem — but with few users, slow adoption, dev drop-off, market freeze, it feels like a ghost town. If a real-world killer app arrives, it could return from the dead. Until then? $DOT remains a top-tier tech engine nowhere built into,” the social media user warned.