Ethereum Dominates DApp Fee Revenue in Q1 2025 With Over $1 Billion

YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — Ethereum DApp fee revenue reached $1.021 billion in Q1 2025. Token Terminal shared the data, showing Ethereum earned the most from user activity on decentralized applications.

These fees come from users paying to interact with apps on the blockchain. For example, when someone swaps tokens on Uniswap or buys an NFT on OpenSea, they pay a fee. That fee goes to the network and adds to the total revenue.

Base, a Layer-2 network built by Coinbase, earned $193 million in fees during the same period. BNB Chain collected $170 million. Arbitrum earned $73.8 million, while Avalanche C-Chain earned $27.68 million.

Ethereum earned more than five times the fees collected by Base. Even though Ethereum has higher transaction costs, people still use it more than other blockchains. This shows that users are willing to pay extra for access to popular apps and trusted security.

Ethereum DApp Fee Revenue Driven by Active Projects

Ethereum currently supports 4,983 active decentralized applications (DApps), based on data from DappRadar. These include a wide range of platforms—like Uniswap and Aave for decentralized finance (DeFi), OpenSea for trading NFTs, and many blockchain-based games. People use these apps to trade tokens, lend or borrow crypto, buy NFTs, or play on-chain games.

While BNB Chain has more total DApps, Ethereum collects higher fee revenue. This means users spend more on Ethereum when using its applications. One reason is that Ethereum hosts some of the most widely used and valuable apps in the crypto space.

Ethereum’s smart contracts—code that runs automatically when certain conditions are met—launched earlier than on most other blockchains. That gave developers more time to build and test apps. Over the years, Ethereum has attracted large developer teams and communities. This has kept the ecosystem active and trusted.

In 2024, Ethereum introduced the Dencun upgrade. This upgrade focused on improving performance on Layer-2 networks—blockchains built on top of Ethereum to help with speed and costs. Dencun reduced transaction fees on these Layer-2s, making them more efficient. However, fees on the Ethereum mainnet stayed high. Even so, many users continue to interact with Ethereum DApps because of their security and reliability.

Ethereum DeFi TVL Reaches $46 Billion

Ethereum DeFi TVL reached $46 billion in Q1 2025, based on data from DefiLlama. TVL stands for Total Value Locked, which means the total amount of funds users have deposited into DeFi platforms. Ethereum holds 51% of the entire DeFi market’s TVL, showing its strong role in the ecosystem.

This locked value is spread across various applications. Major DeFi protocols like Lido, MakerDAO, and Curve use Ethereum as their base. Users deposit crypto into these apps to earn interest, trade assets, or create stablecoins. Each time users perform a transaction, they pay a fee, which contributes to Ethereum DApp fee revenue.

Most of these applications also support Layer-2 networks to reduce gas costs, but they still depend on Ethereum’s security. The $46 billion figure reflects long-term trust in Ethereum-based services. It also explains why Ethereum continues to lead in DApp fee revenue—high user activity leads to high fee collection.

Base and BNB Chain DApp Fees Grow Rapidly

Base earned $193 million in DApp fees in Q1 2025, according to Token Terminal. That’s a 45% increase from Q4 2024. Base is a Layer-2 blockchain built by Coinbase on top of Ethereum. It helps reduce fees and increase transaction speed by processing data off the main Ethereum chain. The jump in revenue shows that more users are using Base to access decentralized apps, especially DeFi services.

BNB Chain, developed by Binance, collected $170 million in DApp fee revenue during the same period. Popular apps like PancakeSwap run on this chain. BNB Chain is known for its low transaction fees, which encourages users to make frequent transactions. This helps increase total fees even when each transaction costs less.

Arbitrum earned $73.8 million in DApp fees. It’s another Ethereum Layer-2 network, focusing on faster and cheaper transactions. Many DeFi platforms and blockchain games have moved to Arbitrum to lower costs for users.

Avalanche C-Chain collected $27.68 million. It is the smart contract platform of the Avalanche network. It supports finance-related applications and NFT projects. Although it earned less than others, it remains active in sectors like digital art and DeFi tools.

Ethereum Gas Fees Stay High Despite L2 Usage

Ethereum gas fees remain high on its mainnet. Gas fees are the costs users pay to complete actions on the blockchain, like swapping tokens or interacting with smart contracts. These fees vary depending on network activity, but Ethereum is often more expensive than other chains. According to L2Fees, users still pay more per transaction on Ethereum than on most Layer-2 networks.

Layer-2 networks like Arbitrum and Optimism were created to reduce these costs. They process transactions separately and then report the data back to Ethereum’s mainnet. This keeps the security of Ethereum but makes each transaction faster and cheaper. Many applications now run on these Layer-2s to save costs.

Still, even with these lower-cost alternatives, Ethereum DApp fee revenue remains the highest among all blockchains. Users continue to interact with apps on Ethereum and are willing to pay higher fees for the services. This is often because of the large number of trusted apps, available liquidity, and the stability of the network.