2026-01-01 20:22:05

The decentralized exchange market in 2025 has entered a clear period of differentiation. The three major DEX protocols—Meteora, Jupiter, and Uniswap—have all surpassed $1 billion in fee revenue thanks to stable trading volumes and efficient services, becoming the most profitable players in the entire DeFi ecosystem.

What does this number reflect? On one hand, these three protocols hold an absolute liquidity advantage within their respective blockchain ecosystems. On the other hand, it also indicates that DeFi trading activity is steadily increasing, and user demand for decentralized trading has never waned. In comparison, the revenue performance of other DeFi protocols is relatively lackluster, further highlighting the monopolistic position of the leading protocols.

$BTC and $ETH, as market barometers, often directly influence the trading volume of the entire DeFi ecosystem. Driven by the 2025 market trend, the trading pairs involving these mainstream tokens have become the busiest on DEXs and are the main contributors to these protocols' revenue.

BTC1.18%

ETH1.22%

View Original

This page may contain third-party content, which is provided for information purposes only (not representations/warranties) and should not be considered as an endorsement of its views by Gate, nor as financial or professional advice. See Disclaimer for details.

6 Likes

Reward
6
4
Repost
Share

Comment

0/400

DustCollector

· 8h ago

Damn, Jupiter made another 1 billion, and I'm still losing money. This DEX monopoly is really boring. The top players are taking the big slices, the mid-tier are just getting soup, and small coins are disappearing altogether. It's a typical Matthew effect. BTC/ETH trading pairs dominate, do other coins really have no chance? Honestly, Uniswap has been stable over the years, but how will new protocols break through? Liquidity has concentrated into three main players. How can people still talk about DeFi being decentralized? Isn't Jupiter on the Solana chain a bit too dominant? Monopoly is monopoly, but at least it's user-friendly. A billion dollars in fee income—how much has to be taken from users' pockets? Wait, are other DEX protocols really that unused? I haven't heard much about them lately.

View OriginalReply0

TestnetNomad

· 8h ago

Well... so making money still depends on the top players; small protocols simply can't get any of the benefits.

View OriginalReply0

FunGibleTom

· 8h ago

The Matthew Effect is really incredible; those few with billions of dollars have completely stifled the others. The dominance of three major players has been obvious for a long time; liquidity concentrating at the top is just like this. When BTC and ETH move, the entire ecosystem follows suit—this is truly the real indicator of market direction. Jupiter has already completely dominated the Solana ecosystem; there's no way to hide from it. Honestly, the new DEXs emerging now have no chance at all; they are just backup players. The moat around leading protocols is really deep; small retail investors only have a few options anyway. How many people would need to contribute to generate the fee income from Uniswap? Its monopoly position is becoming more stable—good or bad for the ecosystem?

View OriginalReply0

0xSunnyDay

· 8h ago

The Matthew Effect: billions of dollars are just rolling around in these three major players, and other small protocols really have no way out. The leading DEXs have indeed benefited from this wave, and once the liquidity siphoning effect starts, it's very hard to break the cycle. JUP and UNI are understandable, but Meteora's comeback over the past few years has been truly impressive. Ultimately, it still depends on BTC and ETH, the two big giants; trading pairs without mainstream coins are basically not popular. With such a level of monopoly, it's really hard for new projects to emerge, as capital is all piling into the top players. Is this billion based on real trading volume or partly fake? It feels worth digging into further.

View OriginalReply0