Top DeFi Protocols Made More in Fees than Bitcoin in Q1 2020
2 min readThere has been no end to the complaints about high Ethereum fees recently, but the top decentralized finance platforms have also been raking it in according to new research.
Messari Crypto founder Ryan Selkis has been researching the state of fees in the industry. Data has revealed that some of the top DeFi protocols have made more in daily fees than Bitcoin did in the first quarter of 2020.
The thread rapidly descended into the usual tirade of crypto tribalism and Ethereum bashing — but it raised some interesting observations on how much DeFi platforms are now earning.
The Top 5 DeFi apps (UNI, SUSHI, COMP, ROOK, AAVE) now make more in daily fees than Bitcoin did in Q1 2020.
But yes, everything outside of BTC is a scam and a cash grab.
I can *almost* understand the ETH skeptics, but not the decentralized application skeptics. pic.twitter.com/iHcSg0Sbge
— Ryan Selkis (@twobitidiot) February 15, 2021
State of the DeFi Fees
Selkis specifically mentioned Uniswap, SushiSwap, Aave, Compound Finance, and KeeperDAO as the top-five DeFi protocols in terms of fees, according to his research.
The screenshot showed Uniswap making almost $3.5 million per day while SushiSwap was second with almost $1.3 million. Compound followed up in third place earning $1.2 million.
At the top of the pile was Ethereum, unsurprisingly, with a whopping $24.4 million in daily fees revenue from fees. Bitcoin was second with $6.6 million.
The comparison was made with Bitcoin’s first three months of 2020 where fees paid to miners were around $250,000 per day on average.
This is a little unfair considering the comparison has been made at completely different times in the market and Bitcoin now generates way more in fees than any DeFi protocol. However, it does emphasize how far they have come in such a short time.
CryptoFees reports similar figures with Ethereum and Bitcoin leading the pack but DeFi protocol making up the rest of the top ten in terms of fees. Also on that list was Stellar and Balancer making $475,000 and $235,000 in daily fees at the moment.
Other DeFi protocols such as Bancor, Synthetix, Curve, Binance Chain, Ren, and 0x were all featured on the list but their earnings were all under $100,000 per day.
Ethereum Still King
If Ethereum was a typical company, its earnings would be impressive and shareholders would likely be happy — but this is not the case. Those holding the asset for the long-term or locking it up through staking are not as worried about those sky-high fees, but anyone attempting to actually use the network is in for a world of pain.
According to BitInfoCharts, the average transaction fee is currently around $20 at the time of press.
The post Top DeFi Protocols Made More in Fees than Bitcoin in Q1 2020 appeared first on BeInCrypto.
