Top five DeFi protocols record $158 million in revenue in December Top five DeFi protocols record $158 million in revenue in December
Except for Lido, the other four protocols registered all-time highs in monthly fees.
2 min read
Updated: Jan. 9, 2025 at 12:16 am UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
The five largest DeFi protocols generated $158 million in revenue in December 2024, with four of them registering all-time highs for monthly revenue flow, according to Token Terminal.
Synthetic dollar issuer Ethena led in revenue in December, registering $56.9 million in monthly revenue, a new all-time high. Additionally, the amount represented nearly 25% of its total $230.8 million in revenue generated last year.
Sky (former Maker) also registered a new all-time high in monthly revenue, generating nearly $40 million last month and representing 13% of the $304 million it captured in 2024. The new revenue record is less than $1 million away from the previous one, registered in January 2022.
Aerodrome, the largest DEX on Base, secured roughly $38 million in revenue in December. This was a new all-time high of over $5 million higher than the previous one and equivalent to 15.6% of the protocol’s $243.6 million in revenue in 2024.
Leading money market Aave revenue jumped over $3 million between November and December last year, reaching $13.6 million. This new all-time high in monthly revenue was equivalent to 16.7% of the previous yearโs total revenue of $81.4 million.
Lido, the only DeFi application of the bunch without a new all-time high in monthly revenue, received $9.6 million in revenue through usersโ interactions. The amount was equivalent to 9.3% of the $103.6 million in revenue the liquid staking protocol received in 2024.
Capturing real value
An on-chain metric commonly applied to measure actual DeFi protocol usage is the fees spent in interactions.ย In addition to the revenue leap, all five aforementioned DeFi applications registered growth in fees, which indicates real usage.
According to its model, Ethena’s revenue equals its fees, which were $56.9 million last month. The same logic applies to Sky, which has nearly $40 million in fees.
Aerodromeโs fees surpassed its revenue by a small margin, totaling $38.3 million. Meanwhile, Aave reached a new all-time high of $89.8 million.ย
Although it registered the smallest revenue amount of the group, Lido ended 2024 with $96.7 million in fees spent, its third-largest monthly fee amount.
Mentioned in this article
Author 
Gino Matos
Gino Matos is a law school graduate and a seasoned journalist with six years of experience in the crypto industry. His expertise primarily focuses on the Brazilian blockchain ecosystem and developments in decentralized finance (DeFi).
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