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The DeFi sector saw the strongest rebound—which high-yield projects are worth considering for entry?
Look at revenue, not narratives—these 10 “money printers” are worth watching.
In recent days, the rapid rise in BTC and ETH has reignited interest in secondary altcoins, with DeFi becoming one of the most active sectors in this rebound.
Many well-known projects have seen substantial price increases in a short period of time.
But compared to blindly chasing price increases, DeFi actually has a more intuitive fundamental metric—revenue.
DeFi protocols such as lending, spot trading, and liquid staking fundamentally rely on continuous usage by real users and capital to generate revenue.
Markets fluctuate and narratives rotate, but the ability to profit over the long term suggests there is still real demand for the protocol.
So, in the current DeFi space, which high-income projects are worth seeking out the right opportunity to get involved in?
(Project revenue data in this article ismethodology,)
The protocol’s actual revenue after deducting the portion allocated to LPs and other supply-side participants.
Uniswap (UNI)
Over the past 30 days, Uniswap generated $7.18 million in revenue, making it the most profitable DEX project.
Looking at the monthly data, Uniswap’s revenue from January to July this year was $2.8 million, $3.2 million, $4.6 million,
$4.5 million, $3.8 million, $5.1 million, and $4.4 million, totaling approximately $28.4 million over the first seven months.
Uniswap’s revenue comes from the Protocol Fee charged during trades.
Protocol fees are currently enabled on all Uniswap v2 pools and select v3 pools.
And gradually expand from Ethereum to multiple chains such as Arbitrum, Base, OP Mainnet, BNB Chain, and Polygon.
Since the UNIfication proposal took effect at the end of 2025, Uniswap has officially launched Protocol Fees,
And use the income to burn UNI (for more details, read: After the Uniswap Fee Switch Goes Live: Is This DeFi Transformation’s “Report Card” Impressive Enough?).
Protocol fees will go into TokenJar; external participants wishing to withdraw the accumulated assets must burn a corresponding amount of UNI.
Solana ecosystem: Jupiter (JUP), Meteora (MET), Raydium (RAY)
Compared to other blockchains, Solana’s on-chain transaction ecosystem is more decentralized.
In addition to traditional AMMs, various models such as trading aggregators and DLMMs have also generated substantial revenues.
Jupiter, Meteora, and Raydium are the top three DEX projects by protocol revenue on the Solana ecosystem over the past 30 days.
First, Jupiter’s revenue over the past 30 days is $4.69 million.
Looking at the monthly data, Jupiter’s revenue from January to July this year was $9.7 million, $7.5 million, $5.1 million, $4.6 million,
$4.2 million, $5.4 million, and $4.3 million, totaling approximately $40.8 million over the first seven months.
Jupiter allocates 50% of its on-chain revenue to repurchase JUP, with funds continuously bought from the open market through Litterbox Trust.
Since the buyback program launched in February 2025, the total buyback volume has exceeded 260 million JUP.
Among them, approximately 134 million JUP tokens have been burned by the end of 2025, accounting for about 4% of the circulating supply.
The burn proposal was approved with 86% community support.
Second, Meteora’s revenue over the past 30 days is $1.67 million.
Looking at the monthly data, Meteora’s revenue from January to July this year was $14.5 million.
(Driven by the launch of new Solana tokens and a surge in meme trading), $1.9 million, $1.3 million, $1.4 million, $1.7 million,
$2 million and $1.7 million, totaling approximately $24.5 million over the first seven months.
In the first quarter of 2026, Meteora spent 1 million USDC to repurchase approximately 7 million MET at an average price of $0.1427.
As of June 30, 2026, approximately 336 million MET tokens have been repurchased, valued at approximately $45.75 million.
Third, Raydium’s revenue over the past 30 days was $1.13 million.
Looking at the monthly data, Raydium’s revenue from January to July this year was $2.6 million, $1.8 million, $1.3 million, $790,000,
$1.1 million, $720,000, and $520,000, totaling approximately $8.83 million over the first seven months.
12% of Raydium’s trading fees are used to repurchase RAY, and the total amount accumulated by Raydium for RAY repurchases has reached approximately $200 million;
Approximately $3.31 million and $1.72 million were invested in buybacks during the first and second quarters of 2026, respectively.
BNB Chain ecosystem: PancakeSwap (CAKE)
PancakeSwap’s revenue over the past 30 days is $5.16 million.
According to quarterly data, PancakeSwap’s revenue for the first and second quarters of this year was $14.03 million and $10.63 million, respectively.
Accumulated approximately $24.66 million in the first half of the year.
PancakeSwap’s advantage lies in its long-standing position as a core trading gateway on the BNB Chain.
It has also been expanded to multiple chains including Base, Solana, and Ethereum.
Additionally, a portion of PancakeSwap’s trading fees is used to repurchase and burn CAKE.
In July 2026, PancakeSwap burned approximately 1.94 million CAKE, after deducting the 674,000 newly issued during the same period,
CAKE experienced a net reduction of approximately 1.27 million tokens, with total supply achieving net deflation for 35 consecutive months.
Base ecosystem: Aerodrome (AERO)
Aerodrome’s revenue over the past 30 days is $4.11 million.
Based on quarterly data, Aerodrome’s revenue for the first and second quarters of this year was $18.31 million and $16.10 million, respectively.
Accumulated approximately $34.41 million in the first half of the year.
Compared to the previous DEXs, Aerodrome does not rely on repurchasing and burning AERO to absorb protocol revenue,
Instead, distribute the revenue directly to veAERO holders. After users lock AERO to obtain veAERO and participate in voting,
You can earn transaction fees generated by the corresponding liquidity pool and external incentives; according to the official mechanism,
The Exchange Revenue generated by the protocol will be 100% distributed to veAERO holders.
Borrowing
World Liberty Financial (WLFI)
World Liberty Financial’s revenue over the past 30 days is $10.47 million.
World Liberty Financial reported revenues of $32.82 million and $34.45 million for the first and second quarters of this year, respectively.
Accumulated approximately $67.27 million in the first half of the year.
Data shows that the net income of WLFI holders is currently 0.
Although the proposal to use 100% of fees generated by Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL) for buying back and burning WLFI was approved with 99.84% support,
However, this buyback only covers POL transaction fees, not all of the aforementioned protocol revenues.
Aave (AAVE)
Aave’s revenue over the past 30 days is $4.12 million.
Based on quarterly data, Aave’s revenue for the first and second quarters of this year was $25.37 million and $20.17 million, respectively, totaling approximately $45.54 million for the first half of the year.
Aave initiated its buyback program in April 2025 and has累计 repurchased over 205,000 AAVE tokens as of March 2026.
Approximately 1.28% of the total supply. Following the rsETH cross-chain bridge exploit in April 2026, Aave DAO suspended buybacks starting April 19.
ETH staking
ether.fi’s revenue over the past 30 days is $3.03 million.
From monthly data, ether.fi’s revenue from January to July this year was $4.4 million and $3.1 million, respectively.
$3.5 million, $3.6 million, $3.6 million, $2.8 million, and $3 million, totaling approximately $24 million over the first seven months.
Currently, 100% of the revenue generated from eETH withdrawals is used to repurchase ETHFI;
In addition, businesses such as Stake, Liquid, and Cash will use a portion of their protocol income each month for buybacks.
After repurchase, ETHFI is not burned, but distributed to sETHFI holders, returning protocol revenue back to ETHFI stakers.
Lido’s income over the past 30 days is $2.31 million.
Looking at the monthly data, Lido’s revenue from January to July this year was $4 million and $2.5 million, respectively.
$2.8 million, $2.9 million, $2.7 million, $2.1 million, and $2.2 million, totaling approximately $19.2 million over the first seven months.
On August 14, Lido’s automated buyback mechanism, NEST, was officially activated.
When the protocol’s annualized revenue exceeds $40 million, 50% of the excess amount is used to automatically repurchase LDO
Daily repurchase limit of $50,000, with a rolling 365-day cumulative limit of $10 million.
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Original link: https://www.odaily.news/zh-CN/post/5212660
Disclaimer: All articles by BiTui represent the authors’ opinions only and do not constitute investment advice.
Source: www.kucoin.com