ethereum, the world’s most valuable smart contract platform, has generated more than $10 billion in revenue in a record seven years. At this rate, ethereum grew to this milestone faster than most major tech companies except Alphabet.
ethereum Reached $10 Billion Milestone Faster Than Microsoft and Zoom
Records showed that ethereum took about seven years to generate $10 billion in revenue, based on eth spot rates, and was only eclipsed by Alphabet, which took about six years, according to the data. compiled by Token Terminal, an analytics platform.
When comparing this performance with other technology companies, for example, Microsoft, it seems that ethereum found rapid adoption and its solutions were adopted more quickly. It took Microsoft almost 19 years to reach this milestone, while it took Adobe approximately 20 years.
The chart also shows that emerging platforms like Zoom took relatively less time to reach the milestone. Zoom, a communications platform that enables online audio and video meetings, took nearly 11 years to generate $10 billion in revenue.
Zoom rose to prominence from late 2019 to 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown period, when businesses opted to conduct online meetings to operate. Since then, the platform has remained popular and is currently valued at over $20 billion as of the end of September 2023.
The rise of ethereum is partly due to its capabilities. Unlike bitcoin, which launched the first functional and trustless transactional network, ethereum allows the deployment of more complex protocols in various industries, including finance, gaming or art.
When I wrote on September 25, eth, ethereum‘s native currency, was changing hands at around $1,570, and the network had a market capitalization of more than $191 billion.
Revenue driven by gas rates and activity
ethereum‘s revenue comes primarily from its transaction fee, measured in gas. Depending on the complexity of the transaction, the network charges different fees or gas.
Simple transfers that do not require the execution of smart contracts are relatively cheaper. On the other hand, those that work trustlessly through smart contracts will be more expensive. Fees depend on the complexity of the transactions.
All revenue generated is distributed to the validators. These entities are tasked with securing the network and validating transactions, a role they are compensated for with block rewards and transaction fees attached to each block.
However, the revenue generated depends on network activity: the larger the transaction processed and the higher the fee applied to each block. Typically, increased network activity tends to raise gas rates due to increasing demand for block space.
According to data from Etherscan, ethereum processed more than 883,000 transactions on September 24, compared to more than 1.93 million on December 9. Meanwhile, the average transaction fee is $0.74.
Featured image from Canva, TradingView chart
