Curve Finance Dominates Ethereum DEX Fees as Activity Increases

Summary:
Curve Finance has recently surged to capture 44% of all DEX fees on Ethereum, showcasing a significant leap from just 1.6% a year ago. The platform's rise reflects a growing demand for stablecoins and increased activity among traders.

Key Takeaways

Curve Finance has claimed 44% of Ethereum's DEX fees in the past month.
This is a drastic rise from only 1.6% a year prior, indicating substantial growth.
The platform is recognized for its stablecoin volumes and deep liquidity in Bitcoin.
Governance decisions within the Curve DAO are evolving alongside its increasing user base and activity.

Curve Finance hits record Ethereum fees amid DAO momentum

A Surge in Fees for Curve Finance on Ethereum

Curve Finance has recently gained renewed attention—not due to speculation, but because of the actual fees being generated by users on Ethereum. While discussions surrounding decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) continue, on-chain data indicates that Curve is at the heart of Ethereum’s decentralized exchange (DEX) activity.

According to data from DeFiLlama, Curve DAO has reached an all-time peak in DEX fees on Ethereum, capturing approximately 44% of all DEX fees over the last 30 days. This is a remarkable rise compared to a year ago when Curve's fee share was only about 1.6%.

Analyzing Fee Patterns: Curve Exceling Among Ethereum DEXs

Ethereum hosts one of the most competitive landscapes in decentralized finance (DeFi), primarily dominated by stablecoins, ETH pairs, and wrapped BTC, rather than fleeting trends like memecoins. Hence, fee data serves as a reliable indicator of genuine trading activity.

Data from DeFiLlama shows that Curve ranks among the top Ethereum DEXs based on fees in the past month, surpassing several established leaders. The accompanying chart illustrates this shift in the market landscape. Curve has generated about $15.1 million in fees over the last 30 days, closely trailing behind Uniswap, despite featuring a more targeted mix of assets.

Curve Finance captures 44% of Ethereum DEX fees as activity surges - 1 Top Ethereum DEXs by fees (30-day view): Credit: DeFiLlama

This increase in fees is a reflection of heightened activity rather than direct profits for the protocol. The fees that traders pay do not translate to the yield available to liquidity providers or revenue for the DAO. Nevertheless, these figures indicate a strong and ongoing demand for Curve’s liquidity pools.

Two notable aspects contribute to this growth. Firstly, there has been a significant increase in trading around crvUSD, which has become a major volume contributor. Secondly, Curve has emerged as home to some of the richest on-chain Bitcoin liquidity in DeFi, particularly after its collaboration with Yield Basis. Currently, three BTC pools on Curve rank highest in terms of both depth and total value locked (TVL).

Governance and Ecosystem Developments Encouraging Growth

The rise of Curve has also coincided with governance and development activities. Recently, the Curve DAO rejected a proposal to allocate 17.4 million CRV tokens, valued at around $6.2 million, to the DEX's development team. A revised proposal has since been submitted, and several new liquidity gauge proposals for existing or new pools are currently under consideration.

New integrations on Layer X and Plasma have expanded Curve's influence, with crvUSD adoption increasing and solidifying Curve’s position as a fundamental platform for stablecoin swaps and yield strategies.

The Curve team has noted a shift in user preferences, as traders are increasingly choosing protocols that are built for stable revenue generation and transparent operations, rather than engaging in short-term speculative trading. Recent data supports this growing trend towards reliability and stability in the DeFi market.