Tether Capturing 41.9% of Sector Revenue Positions it as a Trailblazer in Stablecoin Economy

According to recent reports from CoinGecko Research, Tether (USDT) generated approximately $5.2 billion in revenue, accounting for 41.9% of the total revenue across 168 income-generating crypto protocols tracked that year.

This positions Tether as the clear leader in crypto protocol revenue for 2025, highlighting the dominance of stablecoin issuers. Key details include: Stablecoins as a category were the top revenue generators overall.

The top four stablecoin-related entities led by Tether, followed by Circle, Ethena, and others collectively produced around $8.3 billion, or a significant portion of the market. In comparison, trading-focused protocols showed more volatility tied to market conditions, with stronger performance early in the year but declines later.

Tron ranked second overall among protocols including blockchains with about $3.5 billion, largely boosted by its role as the primary network for USDT transactions. This underscores how Tether’s business model—primarily earning from interest on reserves backing USDT—creates highly scalable, relatively stable revenue compared to more market-dependent DeFi or trading protocols.

Note that some other analyses show slightly varying figures or concentrations like Tether capturing 50%+ in narrower scopes. The crypto market cap ended 2025 at around $3.0 trillion down ~10% YoY, yet stablecoins like USDT continued expanding in adoption and utility.

Tether’s capture of 41.9% of total crypto protocol revenue in 2025 approximately $5.2 billion out of the aggregate from 168 tracked protocols, per CoinGecko’s 2025 Annual Crypto Industry Report carries several significant implications for the cryptocurrency ecosystem, stablecoins, and even traditional finance.

Stablecoins as the Backbone of Crypto Profitability

Stablecoin issuers dominated the revenue rankings, with the top four (Tether leading, followed by Circle, Ethena, and others) collectively generating around $8.3 billion—over 65% of the top 10’s earnings.

This highlights a structural shift: while trading platforms and DeFi protocols depend heavily on volatile market conditions— strong early 2025 but declining later amid a ~10% drop in total crypto market cap to $3.0 trillion, stablecoins deliver predictable, high-margin revenue through interest on reserves primarily U.S. Treasuries.

Tether’s model—earning yield on fiat-backed assets while providing liquidity—proved far more resilient and scalable than market-dependent activities. Tether’s revenue dominance aligns with its broader financial performance: the company reported profits exceeding $10 billion in the first three quarters of 2025 alone, with full-year projections nearing $15 billion surpassing many major banks like Bank of America and approaching Goldman Sachs/Morgan Stanley levels.

This stems from massive reserve investments like $135+ billion in U.S. Treasuries by late 2025 amid elevated interest rates. Implications include: Tether operating as one of the world’s most profitable private companies on a per-employee basis with a tiny team relative to traditional banks.

Growing institutional and investor interest, including talks of massive funding rounds valuing it near $500 billion. Tether’s outsized role underscores concentration risk: USDT remains the default “digital dollar” for trading, cross-border payments, DeFi, and emerging-market remittances, often dominating networks like Tron which ranked second overall at ~$3.5 billion in revenue largely due to USDT traffic.

While this provides unmatched liquidity and adoption (USDT supply exceeded $140–180 billion across chains), it creates single points of failure—regulatory scrutiny, potential de-pegging events, or reserve issues could ripple across the entire ecosystem more severely than in diversified sectors.

Tether’s success illustrates stablecoins’ role in tokenizing fiat liquidity and reinforcing USD hegemony digitally. By investing heavily in Treasuries, Tether funnels crypto capital back into U.S. government debt, creating a symbiotic and sometimes criticized link between crypto and TradFi.

This has drawn regulatory attention like the  ongoing U.S. investigations, MiCA compliance challenges in Europe, but also positions stablecoins as a mainstream payment rail. In emerging markets, USDT’s utility could accelerate shifts away from local currencies toward dollar-denominated digital assets.

Despite competition from regulated players like Circle (USDC) and yield-focused alternatives (e.g., Ethena’s USDe), Tether maintains dominance through network effects, liquidity, and first-mover advantage. The revenue gap suggests that stability and usability trump yield for most users in high-volatility environments.

However, declining interest rates, a looming 2026 challenge could pressure yields, while diversification into gold (XAUT), AI, mining, or tokenized assets may help sustain growth.

Overall, this 41.9% figure cements stablecoins—and Tether in particular—as the most economically sustainable layer of crypto in 2025, even in a down market. It signals maturation toward infrastructure-like profitability but also amplifies debates around decentralization, systemic risk, and regulatory evolution as crypto integrates deeper with global finance.