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The cryptocurrency industry had a relatively mixed year in 2023. It started the year well and then resumed the crypto winter where most coins were in a narrow range. It then bounced back in the fourth quarter, with most coins and tokens surging. There are now over 11,600 cryptocurrencies, according to CoinGecko.
The DeFi industry is also crawling back, with the combined market cap soaring to over $52 billion. This jump was led by big platforms in the DeFi industry like Aave, Maker, JustLend, and Lido. This article looks at the DeFi networks that made the most money in 2023.
Lido Finance
Lido Finance is the biggest DeFi protocol in the world with over $20.7 billion locked in the ecosystem. It is an innovator that introduced the concept of liquid staking, which simplifies how people stake their tokens.
Lido now supports only Ethereum and Polygon after it terminated the support for Polygon and Kusama. The company makes a lot of money because of the assets it holds and the fees it charges. According to TokenTerminal, Lido’s fees totaled over $606 million in 2023. This figure made it the fourth most profitable crypto projects after Ethereum, Tron, and Bitcoin.
Uniswap
Uniswap is the biggest player in decentralized exchanges (DEX), where it competes with the likes of dYdX, Kine Protocol, and Vertex Protocol. Uniswap handled billions of transactions in 2023 as concerns about centralized exchanges (CEX) rose.
As a result, it generated substantial fees for its developers and token holders. It made over $532 million in 2023. Uniswap will likely continue doing well if the crypto rally accelerates in 2024. The only major challenge is that competition in the industry is growing, with the number of DEXes rising.
Convex Finance
Convex Finance is a leading DeFi platform with over $1.58 billion in total assets. The network is part of the Curve Finance ecosystem in that it lets users deposit liquidity and earn boosted CRV and rewards. According to its website, it has earned over $361.7 million in total fees since its inception.
This revenue is then distributed to Curve LP stakers, cvxCRV stakers, CVX stakers, and CVX lockers. Data by Token Terminal shows that the network made over $145 million in 2023, making it the third biggest player in DeFi.
GMX
GMX is another leading DEX that exists in the Avalanche and Arbitrum ecosystems, which are known for their fees. It has over $614 million in total value locked (TVL) and handled perpetual contracts worth billions this year. It has processed over $161 billion in its record and has over 453k users globally. GMX’s revenue totaled over $131 million in 2023.
The other big players in the ecosystem are MakerDAO, PancakeSwap, Aave, and dYdX, which made over $124 million, $123 million, $111 million, and $81 million, respectively,
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