Beyond the ICO: State of DApp Innovation

ICO volume has seen a steep decline in Q3 2018

The advent of smart contracts also saw the emergence of a new fundraising mechanism for crypto startups — the ICO. Overall, we have seen over $18B raised so far via this mechanism. And while falling prices of cryptoassets have slowed the market for ICOs of late, the funds raised should to be more than enough to sustain innovation.

So what does the state of token-based innovation look like in 2018? What type of decentralized apps (DApps) have emerged so far?

DApp Categories

Games are the largest category of DApps by volume

A cursory look at the data throws up no surprises. 45% of all DApps appear to be targeting entertainment (Gaming/Gambling/Social) and a further 24% fall are geared at enabling crypto purchases/ownership (Exchanges/Finance). Entertainment tends to be one of the first use cases targeted by any new technology as it poses relatively few development barriers in the early stages of any new technology.

But as I pointed out earlier, the mere existence of these DApps tells us nothing about their adoption. What types of DApps have real users, and more importantly, real engagement? What does this tell us about the state of innovation in the crypto space? Before we…