Among the many indicators used to measure activity in the cryptocurrency sector are on-chain revenues generated by blockchains or protocols. This figure will exceed $20 billion this year, in a context of maturity largely oriented towards decentralized applications.
On-chain revenues: over $20 billion this year
Are we witnessing a historic shift in the cryptocurrency ecosystem towards a more mature and less volatile economic model? The question seems to arise in light of the massive influx of traditional finance into this constantly evolving digital equation.
This observation is based on the latest report from crypto investment firm 1kx, which specializes in ecosystem growth, using on-chain revenue—fees paid by users on blockchain protocols—generated by various crypto players as its main unit of measurement.
The first important point is that this amount was expected to exceed $20 billion this year for the second time in the sector’s history, with a record high of $9.7 billion (+41% year-on-year) reached in the first half of the year, making it the highest ever recorded.
Since 2020, on-chain revenue has increased tenfold, with a compound annual growth rate of 60%. At the same time, there has been a notable shift, with blockchains that were largely dominant in 2021 (56% of the total) now giving way to DeFi financial applications, which now account for more than 65% of the total in 2025.
On-chain fees, although still representing only a minority of the sector’s revenues, provide clear signals of adoption and long-term value creation: since the beginning of the year, nearly 400 protocols have posted more than $1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), and 20 of them have transferred more than $10 million in value to their token holders.
1kx
DeFi dominates by a wide margin
The 1kx report shows an ongoing shift in the crypto ecosystem, moving from a phase of “speculative frenzy,” characterized by very high but unsustainable fees, to a phase of “maturity” supported by a more efficient infrastructure and decentralized applications (dApps) that have become the main driver of revenue.
In the first half of this year, on-chain revenue was distributed across the following sectors:
- 63% in DeFi: DEX and Perps trading fees;
- 22% in layer 1 blockchains: transaction fees and MEV capture;
- 8% for crypto wallets: swap fees;
- 6% for consumers: 80% launchpads (Pump.fun: 60%), 8% casinos, and 4% creators and social;
- 1% for DePIN: the largest growth at 400% annually;
- 1% for middleware: bridges, development tools.
According to the 1kx report, the current boom in stablecoins has actively contributed to the increase in revenue in the first half of this year. This increase is also associated with the strong growth of sectors such as perpetual DEXs, tokenization, and the accelerated development of AI-powered decentralized finance (DeFAI).
With this in mind, on-chain revenues are expected to continue to grow, reaching $32 billion in 2026. This momentum is now being driven by effective use cases and activity largely focused on decentralized DeFi applications, with institutional participation expected to increase value distribution to token holders.
