The Rise of Appchains? Dapps Are Flipping Blockchains in Revenue

For the first time in history, dapps are generating more revenue than blockchains, raising questions about the real value of the latter without the former, and how this trend could accelerate the rise of appchains.

Dapps Are Generating More Revenue Than Blockchains

The decentralized finance industry is entering a new state where applications are becoming more relevant than the technology enabling them. A report from Milk Road, a crypto newsletter, has revealed that, for the first time, decentralized apps (or just dapps) have higher revenue than blockchains.

Milk Road found that while blockchains have earned $1.4 billion in revenue, dapps have earned $1.8 during Q1 2024, raising questions about the sustainability of the former without the latter.

Milk Road sustains this marks a change in what is considered real value on top of a blockchain, as these used to capture more value than what builders placed on top of them.

It stated:

No one logs on just to use a blockchain. (Users) come to trade, play, invest, socialize, and spend. That’s where attention goes and where revenue really flows.

As the market shifts in this direction, this might also bring a higher percentage of dapps launching their chains to expand their revenue, capturing the fees derived from their activities and transactions.

The newsletter explains that Uniswap, the popular crypto-swapping dapp, did just that and launched its own chain to generate more income. In this way, Uniswap seeks to receive over $70 million that it paid in fees to Ethereum before, opening more revenue paths and handling its ecosystem under just one chain.

In addition, dapp builders can also customize these chains to better suit their specific needs. Uniswap added faster block times, cheaper transaction fees, and better MEV protection to Unichain, seeking to improve the user experience versus using ethereum.

Milk Road states that this trend will continue to grow in the future, as more builders take these advantages into account. “We believe more apps will launch their own chains, bringing their users with them. It’s not just smart, it’s inevitable,” it concluded.

Read more: Uniswap Launches Unichain Mainnet to Boost Defi Efficiency