The Ultimate Guide to Crypto Fees: How They Work and Why They Matter

At Bitcoin Market Journal, we invest in crypto tokens as if they were stocks. While there are important differences between the two, we analyze crypto “companies” like traditional companies, and diversify our investments with a mix of both.

Crypto companies, like traditional companies, earn revenue by charging users fees for transactions on their networks. These fees are a key indicator of a blockchain project’s utility, demand, and long-term stability.

In this guide, we're highlighting the top crypto companies earning the most fees and explaining how these fees can be a crucial metric for identifying promising crypto investments.

Key Takeaways:

Just as a traditional company generates income by charging customers for its products or services, crypto companies collect fees from users who transact on the network. Essentially, fees are how crypto companies make money.

Think of it like a toll road. Drivers pay a fee to use the road, which is then collected by the company or authority that maintains the infrastructure. The more popular and essential the road, the higher the fee revenue.

Similarly, a blockchain network that processes many transactions—especially if users are willing to pay higher fees for faster service—will generate substantial fees, which can indicate a great long-term investment.

For crypto investors, fees are a great barometer of a company’s success. Because they are like revenue of a traditional company, they are one of our most important metrics for identifying promising crypto investments.

Top Crypto Companies by Fees

Ethereum

With almost $2B in fees this year, Ethereum’s high fee revenue is a result of several factors. On one hand, there has been an increase in usage due to the DeFi and NFT market boom.

However, network congestion and gas fee structures also play a role. Ethereum is no stranger to network congestion, and when this happens, users have to bid higher gas fees in order to have their transactions prioritized.

Ethereum also has a base fee mechanism that was introduced in August 2021. The base fee adjusts automatically based on network congestion, with fees rising during periods of high activity. Under this structure, users can also pay “tips” to have their fees prioritized.

Ethereum experienced a spike in fees in March 2024 due to a growth in speculative activity, particularly on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap. This activity was fueled by the rising popularity of ERC-404, an unofficial token standard that enables fractionalized NFTs. These tokens have much higher gas fees -- as much as three times more than traditional NFTs – which led to a surge in gas prices.

Broader events in the crypto market also played a role, as BlackRock launched a bitcoin ETF in early March that increased overall interest in cryptocurrencies.

Tron

Tron has earned about $1.35 billion in fee revenue this year, partially due to stablecoin activity, as Tron has become the go-to network for USDT (Tether) transactions. USDT is one of the most popular stablecoins in the world, and Tron’s fast speeds and low transaction costs have made it a preferred network for many stablecoin users.

Unlike Ethereum, Tron is designed for low-cost microtransactions, making it an attractive platform for those performing frequent, small-value transactions. Where Ethereum’s fee growth has been fairly flat, Tron’s fees are definitely growing.

Tether

As of this writing, Tether has earned $1.209B YTD in fees. As mentioned, Tether remains one of the most widely used stablecoins, and it’s a go-to for many for cross-border payments and remittance services, particularly in countries where traditional banking systems are unreliable.

It is also currently one of the most transacted assets on the Ethereum blockchain, and when Ethereum experiences congestion due to high network activity, Tether benefits by earning more in fees.

Tether brings in $13.4 million in fees each day on average

Bitcoin

Bitcoin has earned substantial revenue in fees this year – around $800 million – in part due to a significant uptick in transaction volume.

Additionally, bitcoin introduced the Ordinals protocol in 2023, which allows users to embed data, such as texts or images, directly onto the bitcoin blockchain. This has led to minting more NFTs on bitcoin, which previously was not a widespread practice. Minting NFTs requires more block space, leading to higher transaction fees, particularly in times of high demand.

These “BRC-20 tokens” have also led to speculative trading activity on bitcoin, which has resulted in more network congestion, therefore increasing fees further.

Bitcoin’s fees also spiked in April 2024, due to the highly anticipated halving event on April 20th, wherein rewards for miners were cut in half. This led to increased competition among users trying to have their transactions confirmed on the final blocks before and immediately after the halving.

Despite the spike in fees, things cooled down quickly after the halving, with fees returning to normal levels shortly afterward.

Lido Finance

Lido Finance has earned $780.413M YTD in fees. Lido’s high fee revenue can be partially attributed to it being a dominant blockchain for