Crypto: Polkadot Drops, The Community Is Upset!

Polkadot aimed to become the backbone of Web3. However, the latest figures compiled by Messari for the first quarter of this year reveal a clear decline: activity down, users falling, market capitalization dropping. While other ecosystems are consolidating their traction, Gavin Wood’s project struggles to fulfill its promises. The contrast between the network’s advanced technical architecture and its low adoption fuels doubts: can Polkadot still embody the decentralized future it proclaimed to build?

A quarter in the red for on-chain activity

While its community is divided over a $2 million investment in Bitcoin, the State of Polkadot – Q1 2025 report published by Messari shows the ecosystem experienced a significant decline in its activity indicators over the first three months of the year.

The total volume of transactions processed across the entire network fell to 137.1 million, marking a 36.9% drop compared to the previous quarter.

This decline occurred in a context of technological transition linked to the implementation of the Neuroweb module, designed to optimize data processing, but whose immediate effect was a mechanical reduction in the number of interactions.

Meanwhile, the number of monthly active addresses dropped from 610,000 to 529,900, a decrease of 13.1%. The decline was also felt in the markets, where DOT’s market capitalization fell from nearly $8 billion at the beginning of the year to $6.1 billion at the end of March, before reaching $5.14 billion on June 28.

Despite this generally unfavorable context, some parachains on the Polkadot network managed to stand out, showing a heterogeneous dynamic within the ecosystem:

• Moonbeam recorded 16.7 million transactions this quarter, an increase of 6.5%, representing 12.2% of total network activity;
• Mythos saw its volume grow by 12%, reaching 12.3 million transactions, for 9% of the total share;
• Peaq, rapidly rising, jumped 84% with 10.1 million transactions, representing 7.4% of the total.

These gains, though positive, remain isolated and are not enough to mask the overall trend: significant erosion of activity on the main chain and visible user disengagement across the network.

The contrast between these isolated successes and the overall dynamic highlights the cohesion and traction challenges Polkadot must face today.

The flip side of the technological coin

Beyond the numerical indicators, it is the very perception of Polkadot that seems to be deteriorating within the crypto community. In a message shared on the social network X, analyst and trader Nonzee does not hesitate to call the project “the biggest crypto bet turned ghost chain.”

Polkadot is dead.

Raised $500M. Promised a revolution.

Now? No users. No devs. No future.

Here’s how one of crypto’s biggest bets faded into a ghost chain 👇🧵 pic.twitter.com/XMHElzhOl0

— Nonzee (@0xNonceSense) June 27, 2025

“Polkadot proves that technology is not enough. It built the chassis of a Web3 super-system, but without users, slow adoption, developer disengagement, and market freeze, it looks like a ghost town,” he asserts, estimating that DOT is now “a top-tier technological engine with no car to power.”

The criticism does not stop there. Nonzee also blames the network’s governance, despite its reputation for innovation: “even the most ambitious governance models did not stop the whales from hijacking it.”

He also highlights the lack of clarity on resource use: over $129 million is said to have been spent by the treasury with no identifiable return on investment. While some tools were launched to attract developers, such as the PAPI Console and the UX Audit Grants program, these have not been sufficient to reverse the trend.

Weekly commits have dropped by 14.4%, and the number of active developers in the ecosystem has declined by 5.7%, though “core devs” remain slightly up.

While the network’s technical foundations are not questioned, the ability to turn these assets into concrete usage is central to the debate.

The much-anticipated launch of Polkadot 2.0, notably with innovations linked to JAM (Join-Accumulate Machine) and the overhaul of the core-time system, could represent a strategic turning point, especially as the SEC decision on a Polkadot ETF is imminent. However, it will still be necessary to convince both developers and users. Without demonstrable and sustained traction, the project risks having a theoretical technological lead. As competition between blockchains intensifies, Polkadot’s future will depend on its ability to respond to these criticisms while regaining community support.