The crypto industry draws a remarkable picture with the income statement that emerged in the last year. Data obtained from 238 projects monitored by Token Terminal show that the highest income is collected in stablecoin issuers, instead of decentralized protocols and on-chain applications. At the top of the list, Tether, which launched USDT, stands out with its annual revenue of 5.3 billion dollars, while Tron, which ranks second, has reached 3.3 billion dollars, almost doubling the difference. Circle ranks third with $2.4 billion.
Details of Tether’s revenue model
Founded in 1994, Tether Limited is known for its USDT stablecoin and is the stablecoin provider with the highest supply in the crypto market. Almost all of the company’s revenue consists of interest income from assets held in reserves on the $185 billion USDT supply in the market. The majority of these reserves consist of US treasury bills and short-term government bonds. The fact that the interest yield has changed between 4 and 5 percent in the last year has provided serious income directly to Tether’s coffers. USDT investors do not receive any share from these returns. Thus, Tether can generate its income directly depending on fund size and market interest rates, without high operational costs.
Tether’s total revenue of $5.3 billion stands out when directly compared to the fees generated directly from users in decentralized protocols. The news states that the fact that Tether’s income comes entirely from the return of reserves funded by users makes the comparison of these figures complicated.
Similarities in Tron and Circle’s revenues
Tron stands out as the blockchain structure where USDT transfers occur most intensively, especially in Asian markets. The Tron network stands out for users looking for low-cost dollar transfers instead of traditional financial structures. Transaction fees generated from transfers contribute to both validators and the overall income statement of the network. When the figures are examined, it is seen that the income from Tron is also significantly based on the use of USDT. Circle, known for its corporate approach to the sector, focuses on the returns obtained from the reserves of the USDC stablecoin. The difference between Circle’s revenue and Tether is due to both the smaller USDC supply and reserve composition.
Income distribution outside stablecoins
Excluding the stablecoin and blockchain projects in the top three, it seems that the income distribution in the sector is still dense but has a more balanced profile. Hyperliquid leads the on-chain platforms with $784.3 million in revenue. It attracts attention especially due to the increasing volume in the last year. While pump.fun generates $411.8 million in revenue with transaction fees from token launches, Axiom Trade is positioned among the fast-rising new platforms with $4,568 million. Rebranded from MakerDAO, Sky and Ethena collect significant revenue from DAI and USDe transaction fees respectively. PancakeSwap and Phantom round out the top ten with DEX transaction fees and wallet transfer fees.
Overall, total industry revenue of $16 billion represents a significant improvement compared to a decade ago. Still, most of the revenue in the industry is concentrated in a small number of names. The share of Tether and Tron in total revenue clearly shows where the economic weight in the ecosystem is currently concentrated.
