Crypto Revenue Data Reveals a $5B Gap Between Top Protocol and #10 — Is Crypto’s Future Centralized?

Analysis of crypto protocol revenue data reveals a stark concentration of economic power, challenging the industry's decentralization ethos. Tether leads significantly, generating $5.2 billion in annualized revenue, creating a massive disparity where the gap between the top protocol and the tenth-ranked protocol (Phantom) is substantial. Over the last 30 days, the top 10 protocols earned about $995.9 million, with the top three accounting for over 82% of that total. Centralized or semi-centralized protocols, including Tether, Circle, and Tron, generated roughly 64% of this revenue, largely through passive income from reserves or controlled fee capture. In contrast, largely decentralized protocols captured only 16%. This dominance is attributed to centralized entities' ability to scale revenue easily via reserve interest and integration with traditional finance, while decentralized protocols rely on variable, competitive user fees and face governance hurdles. The data suggests that crypto's revenue landscape currently mirrors Web2 centralization, raising questions about its long-term direction.

(Source：CCN)