Ethereum Was the Highest-Earning Blockchain Last Year, Despite an Upgrade That Reduced Costs

Ethereum collected $2.48 billion in fees over 2024, the most of any blockchain, followed by Tron, which brought in $2.15 billion.

Despite an upgrade in March that reduced costs on the network, Ethereum was the highest-earning blockchain last year, earning more in fees compared to 2023.

CoinGecko reported on Jan. 21 that Ethereum collected $2.48 billion in fees over 2024, the most of any blockchain, followed by Tron, which brought in $2.15 billion. Bitcoin ( BTCUSD) came in third place with earnings of $922 million.

According to CoinGecko research analyst Lim Yu Qian, Ethereum's fee earnings last year increased by 3% from the $2.41 billion earned in 2023.

“This suggests that Ethereum has continued to lead in fee earnings despite the Dencun upgrade in March 2024 that reduced L2 transaction costs and the ongoing user migration from the L1 chain to its L2 scaling solutions,” Lim wrote in the report.

“Ethereum’s resilient fee earnings also comes in contrast to the price performance of ETH, which fell below expectations last year,” she added.

Crypto analysts have claimed that Ethereum's March Dencun upgrade — which supported reduced transaction fees for layer 2 networks to scale the blockchain — could undermine mainnet revenue, negatively impacting the price of its native token, Ether (ETH).

CoinGecko also found that Ethereum earned $1.17 billion in the first quarter of 2024, which was nearly half of its total fee earnings for last year.

“This was also Ethereum’s highest earning quarter in the last two years, driven by increased onchain activity amid widespread airdrop programs,” Lim said.

On Jan. 18, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced major changes to the Ethereum Foundation's leadership to improve communication between the foundation and builders in the ecosystem.

Following Buterin's dismissal of calls for a leadership shakeup and claim of sole authority over the Ethereum Foundation, Ethereum core developer Eric Conner announced his departure from the community on Jan. 21.

According to CoinGecko, a total of $6.60 billion in fees was collected across 21 layer-1 protocols, while layer-2 blockchains collectively raked in $294 million.

Compared to 2023, Tron's fee earnings increased by 116.7%, rising from $922.08 million to $2.15 billion.

In 2024, Bitcoin's annual fee earnings also increased by 16% compared to 2023.

Solana's annual fee earnings saw the most significant increase, rising from $25 million in 2023 to $750 million in 2024, a 2,838% increase. This increase was driven by the memecoin mania, which also helped the Solana network reach a record 100 million active wallets in October.

CoinGecko's report covered the gas fees earned by blockchains from January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2024.