Executive Summary

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of on-chain revenue in the first half of 2025, based on data from over 1200 protocols. The report focuses on understanding the payment pathways users take, how value flows through the ecosystem, and the factors driving growth.

The Importance of On-Chain Fees

On-chain fees are a vital indicator of real demand. The on-chain ecosystem represents an open, global environment with investment value, while the off-chain ecosystem is more constrained and mature. Data comparison showed a 126% growth in blockchain application fees, compared to only 15% growth off-chain.

Market Size

In 2025, blockchain activity has evolved into a $20 billion economy. Users are paying for a wide range of applications, including trading, storage, and cross-application collaboration. To date, 1124 protocols have achieved on-chain profitability.

Sources of Revenue

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) remains the core pillar, contributing 63% of total fees. However, the industry is rapidly evolving, with cryptocurrency wallets (growing at an annual rate of 260%) turning user interfaces into profit centers, consumer applications (growing 200%) directly monetizing user traffic, and DePIN (growing 400%) bringing computing and connectivity services on-chain.

Health of the Blockchain Economy

Although total fees have not exceeded the peak of 2021, the health of the ecosystem is stronger than ever. ETH transaction costs have decreased by 86%, the number of protocols generating profits has increased by 8 times, and the size of token holder dividend distributions has reached record levels.

Drivers of Growth

Asset prices determine blockchain fees denominated in US dollars. However, it should be noted that price fluctuations lead to seasonal cycles. After 2021, there was a strong causal relationship between application fees and valuations, with fee growth driving higher valuations. On-chain factors significantly influence specific tracks.

Market Winners

The top 20 protocols account for 70% of total fees, but rankings are constantly changing. The top 5 are Meteora, Jito, Jupiter, Raydium, and Solana. There is a discrepancy between fees and valuations, as applications dominate fee generation, but their market share has remained almost constant. This reflects that the valuation logic of applications is similar to traditional companies, with a price-to-earnings ratio in DeFi of around 17x, while public chain valuations are 3,900x, reflecting additional narrative value.

Future Outlook

Projections indicate that blockchain fees will exceed $32 billion in 2026, with an annual growth of 63%, driven primarily by the application layer. RWA, DePIN, wallets, and consumer applications are entering a period of acceleration, and with the continuous advancement of scaling technologies, L1 fees will gradually stabilize. With a favorable regulatory environment, we believe this marks the beginning of the maturation of the cryptocurrency industry, where application scale, fee revenue, and value distribution will eventually integrate.