Dune Digest 004: On‑Chain Signals Point to a New Wave of Layer‑1 Expansion and Real‑World Asset Integration
By the Dune Analytics Team – March 2025
The latest edition of Dune Digest shines a light on several converging trends that are reshaping the DeFi landscape. From explosive wallet creation on a nascent Asian‑focused chain to the emergence of stable‑coin velocity as a performance gauge, the data‑driven snapshots reveal how infrastructure providers and tokenised‑finance projects are gaining momentum and forging tighter links with traditional markets.
1. Kaia Blockchain – A Parabolic Surge in Adoption
- New wallets: 15.8 million accounts were added in March, pushing total wallet count sharply upward.
- Active users: Weekly active wallets rose from an average of 850 k in January to roughly 1.8 million by month‑end, with a record high of 8.3 million in the final week of March.
- Transaction activity: The network processed 27.7 million transactions in that same week, delivering a daily average of 85 transactions‑per‑second – the highest to date.
Analysis: The steep climb in both wallet onboarding and on‑chain activity positions Kaia as a serious contender among Layer‑1 platforms, especially within the Asian Web3 ecosystem. The surge suggests strong community incentives or a wave of dApp launches that are attracting users at scale. Continued monitoring of TPS and fee structures will be vital to gauge whether the growth is sustainable or a short‑term hype cycle.
Key Takeaway: Kaia’s rapid user‑base expansion could translate into greater ecosystem liquidity, drawing developers and investors seeking a high‑velocity Asian market.
2. Ondo Finance – Leading the Tokenised Government‑Bond Space
- Market share: Ondo now tops the tokenised sovereign‑bond segment, surpassing long‑standing players such as Hashnote and Franklin Templeton.
- Assets under management: Over $721 million are currently allocated to Ondo‑issued products, with the OUSG (Ondo‑US Government) token accounting for the bulk of this figure.
- Ethereum footprint: Roughly $436 million of the total is minted on the Ethereum chain.
- Strategic moves: The firm announced the upcoming launch of “Ondo Chain,” a bespoke Layer‑1 built for institutional‑grade real‑world assets, along with the “Ondo Global Markets” platform.
Analysis: Ondo’s dominance in the tokenised bond niche underscores the growing appetite among institutional investors for on‑chain representations of low‑risk assets. By developing a dedicated blockchain, Ondo aims to alleviate scalability and compliance constraints that have limited broader adoption of tokenised securities.
Key Takeaway: The blend of a strong product lineup and a purpose‑built chain could cement Ondo’s role as the “capital‑markets layer” for DeFi, accelerating the migration of traditional asset classes onto public ledgers.
3. Stable‑Coin Velocity – A New Metric for Economic Activity
- Definition: Velocity is calculated as transfer volume divided by circulating supply, indicating how often a stable‑coin changes hands within a set period.
- USDC on Polygon: The figure climbed from 0.84 in January to a peak of 3.7 in April, outpacing the velocity of conventional monetary aggregates M1 (≈1.6) and M2 (≈1.3).
Analysis: The heightened velocity on Polygon signals that USDC is being employed far beyond simple store‑of‑value purposes; it is actively circulating within DeFi protocols, payments, and possibly gaming ecosystems. As tokenised finance matures, velocity may become a complementary indicator to supply‑side metrics, helping analysts distinguish between speculative hoarding and genuine transactional use.
Key Takeaway: Tracking stable‑coin velocity could provide early insight into the health of on‑chain commerce and the real‑world utility of these assets.
4. peaq – Infrastructure for the Machine Economy
- Address count: The network now hosts 3.7 million unique addresses, of which 2.2 million are registered machines.
- User growth: A single day in late March saw a record 96 k new users, with daily active users consistently exceeding 30 k.
- Core drivers: The Teneo Protocol, which aggregates and supplies machine‑generated data for AI marketplaces, and Silencio, a decentralized infrastructure project that repurposes smartphones as ambient noise sensors, are primary contributors.
Analysis: peaq is carving out a niche at the intersection of decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) and real‑world data monetisation. The rapid onboarding of both human and machine participants suggests that the platform is becoming a foundational layer for the emerging “machine‑as‑a‑service” economy.
Key Takeaway: As IoT and AI data markets expand, peaq’s growth trajectory positions it as a critical conduit for on‑chain data provisioning and monetisation.
5. Ostium Protocol – Bringing Perpetuals for Real‑World Assets On‑Chain
- Trading volume: Total volume has breached the $1 billion mark, up from $300 million only a month earlier.
- User base: Approximately 1,200 traders are active on the platform, with 300 engaging in the last 24 hours.
- Open interest: Rises from $300 k to $9 million, driven largely by exposure to forex and commodity markets.
- Fee generation: Daily fees have jumped tenfold to $20 k, accumulating $280 k in total fees.
Analysis: Ostium’s swift scaling reflects a broader appetite for bringing traditional market instruments—such as commodities and foreign‑exchange—into the decentralized perpetuals arena. The platform’s ability to attract a modest yet highly active user community while delivering robust fee revenue indicates a healthy product‑market fit.
Key Takeaway: Ostium exemplifies the trend of DeFi protocols acting as two‑way bridges, offering crypto-native trading mechanics for assets that were previously confined to legacy exchanges.
6. The Bigger Picture
Both Ondo Finance and Ostium Protocol illustrate a palpable shift: DeFi projects are no longer solely focused on native crypto assets but are increasingly engineering on‑chain pathways for traditional finance. Coupled with the rapid adoption of new Layer‑1 networks (Kaia, peaq) and innovative performance metrics (stable‑coin velocity), the ecosystem appears to be moving toward a more integrated, asset‑diverse future.
Takeaways for Investors and Builders
| Trend | Implication |
|---|---|
| Explosive wallet growth on emerging L1s | Greater liquidity pools; potential for early‑stage yields but also heightened risk of speculative inflows. |
| Tokenised government securities gaining traction | Institutional capital may flow to compliant on‑chain products, driving demand for regulatory‑ready infrastructure. |
| Stable‑coin velocity as a usage signal | High velocity could indicate deepening transactional adoption, making stable‑coins a stronger bridge between fiat and crypto. |
| Machine‑driven address proliferation | Data‑rich DePINs could become new revenue generators for blockchain ecosystems, especially in AI‑related services. |
| Perpetual trading of real‑world assets | Traditional market participants may gravitate to DeFi for lower‑cost, 24/7 exposure, intensifying competition among DEXs. |
The information presented herein is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own due diligence before making investment decisions.
The Dune team remains committed to filtering the noise and surfacing data‑driven narratives that matter. If you have dashboards or insights you think deserve a spotlight, reach out via our social channels.
The data must flow.
Source: https://dune.com/blog/dune-digest-004
