Tron’s dominance is driven by stablecoin activity, particularly Tether’s USDT

According to the 30-day revenue data available on DefiLlama, Tron is the highest-earning blockchain network, generating $35.4 million in protocol revenue. This is almost four times Ethereum’s $9.1 million, which ranks second. Base came third with $8.37 million, followed by BSC with $3.81 million, and Solana closely trailing at $3.74 million. Over the past 24 hours, Tron further demonstrated its dominance by generating $1.21 million in revenue, maintaining its lead over other major blockchain networks. Base earned $196,494, Ethereum earned $146,786, and Solana earned $100,989 during the same period.

The data highlights the strength of Tron’s economic model, which has become one of the most profitable networks in crypto. This success is attributed to its focus on high transaction throughput and stablecoin activity. Tron leads the blockchain networks in terms of revenue generated both in the last day and over the past 30-day period. Source: DefiLlama.

Initially regarded as just another smart contract platform competing with Ethereum, Tron has risen to become a major backbone for global stablecoin settlements. In 2024, Tron generated $2.15 billion in total fees, second only to Ethereum’s $2.48 billion, according to data from CoinGecko. Based on this year’s data, Tron is already leading in revenue. The blockchain dominates the stablecoin market, controlling most of Tether’s USDT transactions, which accounts for around half of its market capitalization and over 55% of its transaction volume. Moreover, World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin, USD1, has been launched on the Tron network, further strengthening its position. Tron is also popular in emerging markets and centralized exchanges, driven by the increased adoption of USDT, contributing significantly to its revenue leadership.

Despite Tron’s focus on revenue generation, Ethereum remains the largest and most diverse smart contract network, hosting the majority of decentralized finance (DeFi) projects globally. However, Ethereum’s lower transaction count and dependence on scaling solutions like Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, and Polygon have dispersed its protocol-level fee capture away from its base layer. Conversely, Tron’s design ensures that nearly all on-chain activity directly feeds into its protocol revenue, explaining why its 30-day revenue is nearly 3.8 times higher than Ethereum’s. Nevertheless, Ethereum continues to maintain a lead in total value locked (TVL) and developer activity.

Tron’s appeal lies in its speed and low-cost transactions, making it a preferred platform for stablecoin transfers. Meanwhile, Solana is also gaining traction for these qualities. For Tron, each small transfer contributes cumulatively to its revenue success. With the growing global adoption of stablecoins, particularly in regions like Asia and Latin America, Tron is positioned to remain a primary beneficiary of this trend. On the other hand, Ethereum’s challenge lies in ensuring that its value capture mechanisms evolve alongside its expanding ecosystem of layer-2 networks while maintaining its leadership in infrastructure and innovation.