On-Chain Economy Set to Generate $19.8 Billion in Fees in 2025, Report Finds

As the blockchain sector transitions from speculative booms to sustainable progress, on-chain charges have emerged as a vital barometer of financial maturity. According to a current report, the on-chain economic system is on observe to generate $19.8 billion in charges for 2025.

This signifies a shift towards sustainable, usage-driven economics throughout decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3 ecosystems.

The State of the On-Chain Economy in 2025

In a current report, 1kx.capital revealed that on-chain charges in 2025 are greater than 10 occasions increased than in 2020, representing a compound annual progress price (CAGR) of about 60%.

Users spent $9.7 billion throughout the first half of 2025. This marked the best first-half whole on document and a 41% rise from the prior 12 months. This determine even surpasses 2021, when charges reached $9.5 billion in the identical interval.

“Back then charge era was pushed by billions of {dollars} in user-incentives, associated hypothesis and some expensive PoW blockchains. Today charges are generated primarily by functions, led by monetary use instances however increasing quickly into DePINs, Wallets, and shopper apps (every with >200% YoY progress),” the report learn.

1kx.capital added that the common transaction charge dropped by 86%, pushed largely by Ethereum (ETH). The community accounted for over 90% of the decline. As transaction prices fell, participation in the ecosystem accelerated.

Average day by day transactions rose 2.7 occasions in contrast to the second half of 2021. The number of wallets making month-to-month transactions additionally surged to 273 million in the primary half of 2025, a 5.3-fold enhance. In parallel, the vary of fee-generating protocols expanded, climbing from simply 125 in 2021 to 969 in H1 2025.

“Based on finish of Q3 knowledge, 2025 charges are projected at $19.8 billion – up 35% YoY, however nonetheless 18% under 2021 ranges. The base-case forecast tasks $32+ billion in on-chain charges for 2026, 63% YoY, persevering with the application-driven progress trajectory,” 1kx.capital forecasted.

DeFi and Finance Lead On-Chain Activity

DeFi and broader monetary functions continued to dominate the on-chain area, accounting for 63% of all charges in H1 2025, or roughly $6.1 billion. This represented a 113% year-over-year enhance.

Of this, roughly $4.4 billion got here from core classes together with decentralized exchanges (DEXs), perpetual and derivatives platforms, and lending protocols.

“When general onchain charges resurged in 2024, Blockchains misplaced that lead place to DeFi/Finance Applications, which is on observe for $ 13.1B / 66% of whole in 2025,” 1kx.capital said.

On Solana, protocols equivalent to Raydium and Meteora have led the progress, slicing Uniswap’s market share from 44% to 16%. Jupiter emerged as a serious participant in the perpetual and derivatives phase, rising its share of sector charges from 5% to 45%. Additionally, newcomer Hyperliquid contributed 35% of all charges in this class.

Within lending, Aave stays the dominant protocol. However, Morpho has rapidly expanded its footprint, capturing a ten% share of the charges.

Beyond DeFi, blockchains themselves accounted for 22% of whole charges, primarily from Layer 1 transaction prices and MEV seize. Meanwhile, charges from Layer 2 and Layer 3 remained comparatively marginal.

Wallets accounted for 8%. This pattern was led by Phantom, which generated roughly 30% of all wallet-related charges. Consumer functions contributed 6% of whole charges, with launchpads making up greater than 80% of that phase (driven largely by Pump.fun).

Other contributors included casinos (8%) and the creator/social economic system (4%). Finally, DePINs (decentralized bodily infrastructure networks) and middleware every represented 1% of whole charges.

Beyond On-Chain Fees: Expanding Digital Asset Revenues

The report emphasised that blockchain-related revenues are usually not restricted to on-chain charges alone. A good portion of revenue additionally comes from off-chain and network-level sources, which collectively comprise the broader digital asset economic system.

Off-chain charges totaled $23.5 billion, with centralized exchanges (CEXs) accounting for the biggest share, roughly $19 billion. 1kx.capital additionally recognized about $23.1 billion in further revenue, primarily from block rewards earned by miners and stakers, and from stablecoin yields.

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