Key Points
Ethereum Tops Fee Earnings in 2024
According to a report by CoinGecko, blockchain activity saw a significant increase in 2024. This led to a substantial rise in fees, totaling $6.89 billion. Ethereum (ETH) remained the leader in fee earnings, amassing an impressive $2.48 billion in gas fees.
TRON (TRX) also experienced a significant increase in fee earnings. The platform managed to earn $2.15 billion in fees, a considerable increase from the previous year. Analysts at CoinGecko attribute this rise to TRON’s dominance in the stablecoin market. They noted that the platform’s monthly earnings steadily increased throughout the year.
The report examined blockchain fees from the start of 2023 to the end of 2024. The data used for this study was sourced from TokenTerminal and Artemis. Blockchains with insufficient publicly available fee data were excluded from the study.
Other Notable Performances
Solana (SOL), known for its meme coins, also saw a significant increase in fee earnings. The network’s earnings skyrocketed by a staggering 2,838%, totaling $750.65 million. Bitcoin (BTC), on the other hand, experienced a 15.9% growth in fees, totaling $922.89 million. CoinGecko attributes this growth to increased activity from Ordinal NFTs, BRC-20 and Rune tokens, and the growing interest in building on Bitcoin.
In the layer-2 space, Coinbase’s network Base led the charge. The network earned $84.78 million in fees in 2024, marking a 548.2% increase from the previous year. Despite Ethereum’s dominance in fee earnings, other layer-2s like Arbitrum, Linea, and Optimism also made significant strides. These platforms earned $44.10 million, $39.20 million, and $37.97 million, respectively.
CoinGecko notes that fluctuations in layer-2 fee earnings primarily reflect on-chain activity driven by token airdrop and incentive marketing programs. They added that the long-term earning potential of layer-2 chains remains to be seen.