1kx: Onchain Economy Hits $20B as Fees Signal Real Demand

The crypto industry’s onchain economy has entered a new phase, one driven by fees, users and real demand rather than just price speculation, according to a sweeping new study from venture firm 1kx.

The firm’s Onchain Revenue Report (H1 2025) aggregated verified onchain data across more than 1,200 protocols, tracking how value actually moves through decentralized systems. The result: a $20 billion economy that is growing at lightning speed.

“Onchain fees are the clearest signal of real demand,” 1kx wrote in its report.

DeFi protocols still account for roughly 63% of total onchain fees, according to the report, but newer verticals are rising fast. Wallets saw a 260% year-over-year increase in revenue as interfaces became profit centers, while consumer-facing apps jumped 200% and DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure networks) grew 400%.

Ethereum’s dominance has waned as scaling solutions and alternative blockchains lowered transaction costs — ETH’s average tx fees are down 86% since 2021 — even as the number of monetizing protocols expanded eightfold.

The report also highlights how fees and valuations are diverging. While the top 20 protocols capture 70% of all onchain fees, market caps haven’t kept pace. DeFi applications trade at roughly 17x price-to-fees, while blockchains are valued at 3,900x, reflecting the enduring premium investors assign to “nation-state” narrative assets.

That mismatch, 1kx suggests, may represent opportunity. “Markets are beginning to price applications like businesses,” the firm noted, implying that protocols with recurring fee revenue could anchor the next investment cycle.

Looking ahead, 1kx forecasts $32 billion in onchain fees by 2026, a 63% year-over-year increase. The biggest growth drivers, it says, will be real-world asset tokenization (RWAs), DePIN networks, wallet monetization, and consumer-facing crypto apps.

Combined with improving regulatory clarity and scalable infrastructure, the firm argues this could mark the start of crypto’s “mature phase” — one where usage, fees, and value distribution finally converge.

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