The 5 largest DeFi protocols generated $158 million in income in December 2024, with 4 of them registering all-time highs for month-to-month income move, in response to Token Terminal.
Artificial greenback issuer Ethena led in income in December, registering $56.9 million in month-to-month income, a brand new all-time excessive. Moreover, the quantity represented almost 25% of its whole $230.8 million in income generated final yr.
Sky (former Maker) additionally registered a brand new all-time excessive in month-to-month income, producing almost $40 million final month and representing 13% of the $304 million it captured in 2024. The brand new income file is lower than $1 million away from the earlier one, registered in January 2022.
Aerodrome, the most important DEX on Base, secured roughly $38 million in income in December. This was a brand new all-time excessive of over $5 million larger than the earlier one and equal to fifteen.6% of the protocol’s $243.6 million in income in 2024.
Main cash market Aave income jumped over $3 million between November and December final yr, reaching $13.6 million. This new all-time excessive in month-to-month income was equal to 16.7% of the earlier yr’s whole income of $81.4 million.
Lido, the one DeFi software of the bunch and not using a new all-time excessive in month-to-month income, obtained $9.6 million in income by means of customers’ interactions. The quantity was equal to 9.3% of the $103.6 million in income the liquid staking protocol obtained in 2024.
Capturing actual worth
An on-chain metric generally utilized to measure precise DeFi protocol utilization is the charges spent in interactions. Along with the income leap, all 5 aforementioned DeFi purposes registered development in charges, which signifies actual utilization.
In keeping with its mannequin, Ethena’s income equals its charges, which have been $56.9 million final month. The identical logic applies to Sky, which has almost $40 million in charges.
Aerodrome’s charges surpassed its income by a small margin, totaling $38.3 million. In the meantime, Aave reached a brand new all-time excessive of $89.8 million.
Though it registered the smallest income quantity of the group, Lido ended 2024 with $96.7 million in charges spent, its third-largest month-to-month price quantity.


