Tether emerged as the largest revenue generator in the crypto industry in 2025. Data showed that stablecoin issuers consistently outperformed protocols focused on trading, despite a change in market sentiment during the year.
Stablecoins dominate crypto revenues while Tether tops the 2025 rankings
According to CoinGecko researchIn 2025, Tether generated approximately $5.2 billion in protocol revenue. This number accounted for 41.9% of all revenue across 168 crypto protocols.
INSIGHT: Stablecoins generated $5.2 billion in revenue by 2025, accounting for 41.9% of total protocol revenue. pic.twitter.com/fjJrAn9k7B
— CoinGecko (@coingecko) January 25, 2026
As a result, Tether emerged as the biggest contributor to the rest of the crypto universe. Its dominance was due to the continued demand for stablecoin liquidity amid uncertain market conditions.
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Furthermore, as a group, stablecoin issuers significantly outperformed the other categories of protocols. Just four entities were responsible for 65.7% of total revenue, which amounts to approximately $8.3 billion.
Meanwhile, the remaining 6 protocols in the top 10 were mainly trading platforms. These protocols demonstrated greater sensitivity to market cycles and volatility.
CoinGecko Research said total protocol revenues varied throughout the year. Market conditions and trading activities had a direct impact on monthly performance across sectors.
In January, total protocol revenue was approximately $3.3 billion. However, a weakening market saw sales fall to about $2.9 billion in April.
Sales later recovered in the summer months. August was the top month of the year, with combined protocol revenue of nearly $3.5 billion.
However, the recovery was temporary as conditions changed again. In October, total sales fell to approximately $3.0 billion, while trading volumes fell.
Trade-oriented protocols saw the most extreme revenue swings throughout the year. Their performance closely followed speculative interest and short-term market trends.
Trading protocols show volatility as Tron is in second place
Phantom was a perfect example of the volatility caused by traders in 2025. The protocol was close to $95.2 million in January during Solana’s memecoin wave.
However, interest quickly waned in the following months. In December, Phantom’s monthly revenues fell sharply to just $8.6 million.
Similar patterns emerged on other trading platforms. Revenue spikes often corresponded to short speculative cycles, as opposed to long-term user activity.
Some of the notable contributors during the year included Circle, Hyperliquid, pump.fun, Ethena, Axiom Trade, Sky, PancakeSwap and Aerodrome. Each had monthly revenues ranging from $60 million to $230 million.
Despite all these contributions, stablecoin issuers were more consistent throughout the year. Their income streams were the result of demand for transactions, as opposed to speculative trading.
The data also highlighted key trends in blockchain usage. If blockchains were included, Tron would be the second most revenue-generating company.
CoinGecko Research estimated that Tron would generate approximately $3.5 billion in revenue by the year 2025. This performance was mainly due to its role in USDT transactions.
Tron’s network is still preferred USDT transfers at layer 1. High transaction volumes converted into sustainable cost generation.
Overall, the data painted a very clear industry story for 2025. Stablecoins delivered predictable revenues, while trading protocols performed unevenly.
As market conditions change, concentration of sales may remain an important theme. The Stablecoin infrastructure helps anchor crypto activity in volatile times.
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