Ethereum is the most active platform ranked by fees generated in the last six months, data from Token Terminal shows.
Ethereum generates $742.9 million in fees in 180 days
Ethereum is a smart contracting platform where users can launch dapps that serve various sub-sectors in crypto, including gaming, decentralized finance (DeFi), and more.
Over the past six months, on-chain data shows the platform generated $742.9 million in fees, more than the amount on Tron, a competing blockchain. In the last 180 days, Tron generated $282.4 million in on-chain fees.
BNB Chain, another smart trading platform and ETH competitor, came in a distant sixth with $115.9 million. Meanwhile, Bitcoin, the legacy network, was in eighth place with $79.6 million in fees created.
Fees are critical in public blockchains as they incentivize node operators. On proof-of-work and proof-of-stake platforms like Ethereum and Bitcoin, validators and miners operate equipment that consumes resources. As these nodes are online, public chains are decentralized. Additionally, transactions can be processed, ensuring that the platforms are operational and secure.
The fees generated by each network are a measure of the activity on the chain. Ethereum’s fee superiority can be attributed to its communities active in DeFi, metaverse, gaming, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and more. This is already shown in the number of Ethereum-based protocols that, although launched on the smart contracting platform, outperformed independent networks in fees generated.
Related reading: Tron vs. Ethereum: analysis of the performance gap and its impact on crypto investors
One notable dapp is Uniswap, a decentralized exchange, with $269.3 million in fees; Lido Finance, a liquid betting platform, with $209.5 million; and GMX, a trustless derivatives trading platform where traders can trade, among other assets, ETH and Bitcoin directly from their non-custodial wallets like MetaMask, which generated $86 million in fees.
These protocols generated more fees than BNB Chain and Bitcoin, respectively.
First Mover Advantage
The dominance of Ethereum-based dapps and its emergence as one of the top networks generating high fees, and therefore revenue for validators, highlights its position in the sphere.
Ethereum’s first-mover advantage and longevity solidifies its position in the smart contracting space. Compared to some competitors like Solana, ETH has close to 100% uptime, meaning it has been up and running since launch.
On August 5, 2021, Ethereum revised how it calculated and processed gas fees via EIP-1559. The update introduced a base fee that everyone must pay and a tip for validators. In this system, the base fee is burned and taken out of circulation, gradually making ETH deflationary. By mid-April, more than 3.2 million ETH had been burned according to UltraSoundMoney data.
On April 11, Etherscan data shows that the average transaction fee on ETH was $0.77
Featured Image from Canva, Chart from TradingView
