Tether led all crypto protocols in 2025, generating about $5.2 billion in revenue, according to CoinGecko Research. This figure accounted for 41.9% of total revenue across 168 revenue-generating crypto protocols.
Stablecoin issuers dominated the rankings. Just four issuers generated nearly $8.3 billion, or 65.7% of total protocol revenue. This shows how stablecoins stayed strong while other parts of the crypto market struggled.
Tron ranked second among blockchains with around $3.5 billion in revenue. Its growth came mainly from being the most used network for USDT transactions, giving it strong and steady network activity.
The rest of the top 10 protocols were mostly trading platforms. Their revenue depended heavily on market conditions and investor sentiment, making their earnings far more volatile than stablecoin issuers.
Trading protocol revenue rose early in the year but fell sharply later. Platforms benefited during meme coin speculation in the first quarter, but interest faded as markets turned bearish after a major $19 billion liquidation event in October.
Overall monthly protocol revenue ranged between $3 billion and $3.5 billion for most of 2025. In contrast, stablecoins remained resilient as their market capitalization grew by 48.9% to a record $311 billion.
New players also gained ground in the stablecoin space. PayPal’s PYUSD became the fifth-largest stablecoin, helped by creator payouts on YouTube and a 4.25% yield offering through Spark Savings Vault.
CoinGecko’s data comes from its 2025 Annual Crypto Industry Report, which tracked the market’s first yearly decline since 2022. Despite lower prices, stablecoins proved to be the most reliable revenue engine in crypto during the downturn.
