Most Profitable DeFi Protocols Ranked

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has become the biggest sub-sectors of the blockchain industry. It has grown to become an important pillar in the sector. At their peak, DeFi protocols had over $200 billion in total value locked (TVL) in their ecosystems. There are hundreds of DeFi protocols, with the biggest ones being Lido, MakerDAO, AAVE, Curve, and Uniswap. Here are the top cash-earning DeFi protocols.

Uniswap

Uniswap is a leading decentralized exchange (DEX) that makes it possible for people to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. Users don’t need to register their accounts or ask KYC and AML questions. Instead, they need to only link their wallets to the ecosystem and then start transacting. 

Uniswap makes money by charging users a small fees for transactions in its network. According to DeFi Llama, Uniswap has over $3.8 billion in total value locked (TVL). It made $509k in the past 24 hours. The total fees collected were over $1.1 million.

GMX

GMX is a leading DEX that operates on Arbitrum and Avalanche, two networks known for their low fees. The network is known for low fees and slippage and faster execution. GMX has over $443 million in TVL and handles millions of transactions on a daily basis. 

Data show that GMX is a real cash earner in the DeFi ecosystem. Its fees in the past 24 hours totaled over $2.7 million while its revenue in the same period was over $822k. It has had over $1.2 million in revenue in the past 7 days.

AAVE

AAVE is another large DeFi protocol that is making a lot of money. The network operates a non-custodial lending marketplace where people can deposit their funds and earn interest. They can also borrow money in form of crypto tokens. As such, AAVE does what most banks do to make money. AAVE operates in multiple blockchains like Ethereum, Avalanche, Optimism, Fantom, and Arbitrum. It has transacted billions of dollars in the past few years.

AAVE makes a lot of money. Its total revenue in the past 24 hours rose to more than $116k. The fees collected in the past 7 days were more than $4.9 million.

Synthetix

Synthetix is another DeFi protocol that makes money. It is a blockchain project that makes it possible for developers to create crypto derivatives that are known as synths. Synths can then be linked to exchanges, which people can then trade. Synthetic had over $1.5 million in revenue in the past 30 days even as the crypto winter continued.