On-chain behavior survey: Europe leads new wallet creation, chains become more specialized

On-chain behavior shows several key trends as the previous Web3 and decentralized tools have become widely adopted. Most on-chain users seek trading opportunities, but decentralized social media is also growing. 

On-chain users are tackling the increasing complexity of Web3, decentralized services, according to recent research by Reown with data assistance from Nansen. Several trends are forming in on-chain behaviors, reshaping the crypto market. 

Reown, rebranded from WalletConnect, creates app and wallet SDK kits for on-chain experiences. To better serve its customers, Reown performed in-depth research on user habits, experiences, and the most in-demand apps. 

The company based its findings on a survey of 1,038 users, queried in February 2025, extending similar queries from 2024 to track sentiment over time. Nansen added transaction data to explore sentiment and app demand further. 

On-chain users flock to trading, DeFi and payments

For the query period, only 17% of users were newcomers to the crypto market. The biggest group of users, 56%, were traders who swapped crypto in the past three months. 47% used crypto for payments, and 45% interacted with DeFi protocols.

Airdrops, gaming, and social apps were also attractive, but only 17% of users interacted with NFT protocols in February 2025. Participants overlapped, and some reported several types of apps and use cases. Governance is also a relatively slow use case, with only 6% of users reporting some type of vote through their wallets.

Most users were in the intermediate to highly comfortable category, with 14% of users reporting advanced interactions with apps. The relatively mature crypto market in 2025 continues to see experienced users and traders returning for more opportunities. 

As more Web3 projects offered incentives, some users joined for the social factor, while others responded they were more interested in the airdrop value. 

Bitcoin remained the most widely held asset, chosen by 64% of respondents. Meme tokens showed the biggest gains, with up to 37% of respondents holding some type of meme. For the same period in 2024, around 20% of users held meme tokens.

Europe leads in new wallet creation

Wallet usage is growing, reflecting the evolving on-chain engagement. Europe is the leader in new wallet creation, while Southeast Asia is the leader in interconnected wallets and on-chain interactions. 

North and South America lagged both in terms of wallet creation and connectivity despite remaining one of the biggest crypto markets. The user behavior of US wallet owners is still a remnant of the harsh crypto regulations of the Biden administration, as noted in the survey paper.

More on-chain users resort to managing multiple wallets due to the fragmented ecosystems of different chains. 48% of users kept multiple wallets due to a lack of interoperability, and 44% reported security as the main reason. 

Mobile wallets are still the most widely used type, with a growing demand for hardware wallets. New users tended to test more wallets of various types, while experienced traders consolidated around big brands, choosing the dominant wallets of Binance and Coinbase. 

Wallet users became more specialized, using Ethereum as a settlement layer and for DeFi interactions. Solana users are mostly linked to DEX, while BNB Wallet owners have moved to specific Binance services. Base users were the most diverse in terms of on-chain behaviors.

Cryptopolitan Academy: Tired of market swings? Learn how DeFi can help you build steady passive income. Register Now