Decentralized Social Infrastructure Continues to Grow Amidst Bear Market

The decentralized social sector has been facing a tough time amidst the bear market, but new data suggests that it's not dying out – rather, it's evolving. Mask Network's analysis reveals that despite the recent pivots of Farcaster and Lens Protocol, the foundation for decentralized social infrastructure is being laid.

According to the report, over 17.76 million Web2 and Web3 identities are now mapped across 30+ platforms, representing roughly 5.9 million unique Web3 users. These identities have generated 17.37 million verified connections – not follower counts, but actual cryptographic bindings between accounts and wallets.

The domain system also shows expansion, with ENS maintaining 1.16 million active domains and Base's domain service surpassing that, hitting 1.96 million registrations. This infrastructure is being built for decentralized social participation, with over 820 million wallet users globally by the end of 2025 – representing 15% of the global internet population.

But despite this growth, only about 57,792 users qualify as 'hardcore' participants by strict criteria – those with ENS primary domains, linked Farcaster or Lens accounts, and connected X profiles. This represents roughly 1% of the identity-holding population actually posting and engaging regularly.