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Stablecoin Issuers Remain the Biggest Fee Generators
Tether and Circle, the companies behind two of the world’s largest dollar-linked stablecoins, generated more fees than any decentralized finance projects during the seven days ending Oct. 2, 2026, according to DeFiLlama data.
Tether recorded $105.4 million in both fees and revenue, down 12% from $120.1 million during the previous seven-day period. Circle’s USDC business followed with $43.5 million in fees and revenue, also down 12%.
DeFiLlama defines fees as the total amount users pay, while revenue is the portion retained by a protocol or distributed to token holders. That distinction was especially visible among decentralized exchanges. Solana-based PumpSwap collected $32.1 million in fees, up 33%, but recorded revenue of $3.6 million. Uniswap V4 generated $20.5 million in fees but no reported revenue.
Polymarket US collected $20 million in fees, a 20% increase, with no reported revenue. Solana token launchpad pump.fun posted $15.3 million in fees and $11.2 million in revenue, with fees rising 36%. Launchpads help users issue new digital tokens and provide initial trading access.
Hyperliquid Perps generated $13.3 million in fees and $8.8 million in revenue, though its fee total fell 37%. Pons V2, a launchpad on Robinhood Chain, recorded $10.4 million in fees and $1.6 million in revenue, down 42% from $17.8 million in the preceding period.
Maple Leads Fast-Growing DeFi Projects
Among projects with at least $200,000 in weekly fees and growth of more than 50%, Maple had the largest current fee total. The lending project, which operates on Ethereum and off-chain infrastructure, generated $3.8 million, up 196% from $1.3 million.
USD AI, an Arbitrum-based real-world asset project, climbed from about $2,000 to $3.4 million, an increase of roughly 1,781.7 times. THORChain DEX, which operates across THORChain and Bitcoin, rose nearly twelvefold from $192,000 to $2.3 million.
Tether Gold entered the list with $1.2 million in fees after reporting none during the previous period. Solana exchange Sanctum Infinity similarly rose from zero to $686,000. Saturn, an Ethereum stablecoin wrapper, increased 190% to $1 million.
Other fast-growing projects included Bitwise USCC, a basis-trading project on Ethereum and Solana, which rose 4.1 times to $291,000; launchpad clanker, which increased 3.3 times to $459,000; and NFT lender Gondi V3, which more than tripled to $203,000.
Solana Leads Overall Chain Fees, but Arbitrum Shows the Sharpest Recent Jump
After excluding issuer fees recorded off-chain, Solana led blockchain activity with $19.5 million in fees over 24 hours and $484.4 million over 30 days. Ethereum followed with $16.5 million over 24 hours and $368.7 million over 30 days.
Arbitrum’s totals were smaller — $2.7 million over 24 hours and $20.9 million over 30 days — but its recent concentration ratio was the highest at 3.9. The measure compares one day of fees with the daily average over 30 days, meaning recent activity on Arbitrum was running at nearly four times its monthly daily average.
Solana’s ratio was 1.2, while Ethereum’s was 1.3. Robinhood Chain recorded $5.3 million in 24-hour fees and $389.3 million over 30 days, but its concentration ratio was 0.4, indicating that its latest daily activity was below its 30-day pace. Hyperliquid recorded $5.1 million over 24 hours and $163.9 million over 30 days, with a ratio of 0.9.
High Yields Carry Separate Risks
Among liquidity pools holding at least $10 million in deposits, Uniswap V3’s AAVE-WETH pool on Ethereum offered an annual percentage yield of 36.41%, compared with a 30-day average of 47.55%. The pool held $13.5 million in deposits. Raydium’s WSOL-USDC pool on Solana offered 35.17%, with a 30-day average of 107.10% and $36.7 million deposited.
Those yields represent terms available to depositors and are separate from the fees earned by protocols. Rapid fee growth also does not establish that a project is safe or sustainable, particularly for newer platforms whose figures can fluctuate sharply. The data provides a snapshot of publicly available DeFi market activity and is not an investment recommendation.
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