The definitive leader in the 2025 crypto protocol revenue rankings for stablecoins

The 2025 Cryptocurrency Protocol Revenue Rankings reveal a clear market phenomenon: stablecoin issuers dominate absolutely. According to data from CoinGecko Research’s annual report, the top stablecoin issuers support the majority of the protocol ecosystem with stable revenue streams. This phenomenon reflects the fundamental difference between risk assets and stable assets in the crypto market.

Stablecoins Lead Protocol Revenue, Tether Accounts for Over 40%

Among the ecosystem of 168 revenue-generating crypto protocols, stablecoin issuers hold a commanding advantage. Tether ranks first with approximately $5.2 billion in annual revenue, accounting for 41.9% of the total protocol ecosystem revenue. This proportion clearly indicates that Tether’s leading position in stablecoins is no accident but a direct reflection of its absolute monopoly advantage in the USDT market.

Not only does Tether perform outstandingly, but the top four stablecoin issuers—Tether, Circle, Ethena, and MoonTrade—collectively generate about $8.3 billion in revenue, representing 65.7% of all protocol revenue. This means just four entities control over two-thirds of the revenue in the crypto market. This highly concentrated revenue distribution pattern fully demonstrates the core value of stablecoins within the crypto ecosystem.

Exchange Platform Revenue Fluctuations, Stablecoins Remain Resilient

In stark contrast to the steady performance of stablecoin rankings, revenue from trading protocols fluctuates wildly like a roller coaster. For example, Phantom, a trading platform in the Solana ecosystem, generated $35.2 million in monthly revenue during the peak of the meme coin craze in January, but by December, revenue had fallen to $8.5 million. Similar extreme volatility is common among other trading platforms.

Throughout 2025, monthly protocol revenue fluctuated between $3 billion and $3.5 billion. The strong first quarter was disrupted by a historic $19 billion liquidation event in the fourth quarter, leading the market into a bear phase. In this market environment, issuers in the stablecoin rankings maintained relatively stable revenues. The market cap of stablecoins grew by 48.9% over the year, reaching a record $311 billion. Regardless of how volatile crypto asset prices are, stablecoins provide their issuers with a steady stream of income.

PayPal’s launched PYUSD has become a rising star in the stablecoin rankings, growing 48.4% in a year through innovative applications like YouTube creator payments and Spark Savings Vault offering 4.25% annual yield. Its latest market cap has reached approximately $3.9 billion.

Tron and USDT Advantage Make It the Second Largest Revenue-Generating Blockchain

Driven by stablecoin rankings, the Tron blockchain achieved $3.5 billion in annual revenue, ranking second after Tether as the second-largest revenue-generating blockchain. This fully demonstrates the driving force of stablecoins on the entire blockchain ecosystem—Tron’s substantial revenue is largely due to carrying a large volume of USDT transactions, showcasing the power of network effects.

The remaining six protocols in the top 10 revenue generators are all trading platforms, whose revenues are highly dependent on market sentiment cycles and speculative moods. In contrast, issuers in the stablecoin rankings exhibit markedly different revenue stability characteristics.

Stablecoin Market Cap Hits Record High, Issuer Camp Continues to Expand

The crypto market experienced its first annual decline since 2022 in 2025, with total market cap falling to $3 trillion by year-end, down 10.4% year-over-year. Despite overall market pressure, stablecoins performed counter to the trend. The four major stablecoin issuers maintained over $8 billion in annual revenue, fully validating stablecoins’ role as a safe haven during volatile risk asset periods.

Average daily trading volume in Q4 reached $161.8 billion, a new high for the year, driven by market panic and sharp fluctuations following the October liquidation event. During this period, issuers in the stablecoin rankings became the most trusted asset classes among market participants, fully demonstrating the defensive advantage of stablecoins.

Digital asset treasury companies deployed at least $49.7 billion throughout the year to purchase BTC and ETH, controlling over 5% of the total supply of these two assets. However, amid declining prices, deployment slowed significantly in Q4 to $5.8 billion, shifting focus to buybacks rather than continued accumulation. In this adverse market environment, issuers in the stablecoin rankings still maintained relatively stable revenue performance, once again proving stablecoins’ role as a steadfast force in the market.