10 Most Successful dApps of 2024: Which dApps Make Money?

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Traditional finance investors study the stock fundamentals of a company, such as revenue and profit, to analyze the market value of a stock.

Can crypto investors use such techniques to evaluate their investment options in the market?

With this thought in mind, we list the 10 most successful decentralized applications (dApps) based on the revenue earned during the third quarter of 2024.

We also explore a popular valuation metric called revenue multiple measured by dividing the total market cap by annualized revenue, which can indicate whether a crypto token is expensive or cheap compared to its peers.

Which crypto projects were the highest earners in Q3 2024? Let’s find out.

Key Takeaways

    • Pump.fun tops the list as the highest revenue-generating dApp with $262M in Q3 2024.
    • Sky, formerly MakerDAO, reaped $261M in revenue, bolstered by U.S. treasury exposure.
    • Aerodrome Finance, the key DEX on Base, earned $192M with 1,300% token gains.
    • Ethereum-based Ethena Finance secured $112M via its synthetic USDe stablecoin.
    • Lido Finance, which dominates liquid staking on Ethereum, generated $93M.

    Table of Contents Table of Contents

    10 Best Revenue Making dApps

    1. Pump.fun – $262M in Q3 2024

    Pump.fun is a memecoin minting platform on Solana (SOL) that became the fastest-growing crypto app in history after raking in over $100 million in revenue within seven months of its launch.

    The memecoin craze of 2024 has been a key reason behind the success of Pump.fun, which, according to a report by Coinbase Institutional and Glassnode, was the most successful decentralized application during the third quarter (Q3) of 2024, with a 90-day annualized revenue of $262 million.

    The platform makes launching memecoins as easy as a click of a button. For memecoin traders, Pump.fun offers a safe platform to trade memecoins that are launched without team allocation and presale to insiders.

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    Crypto investors looking to capitalize on Pump.fun’s success will be disappointed to learn that the platform does not have a native token.

    2. Sky (Formerly MakerDAO) – $261M

    MakerDAO, which recently rebranded to Sky, is one of the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols in the world, best known for its DAI stablecoin. The protocol earns its core revenue from lending DAI to users who lock up their crypto tokens as collateral.

    As part of its long-term strategy called “Endgame Plan,” MakerDAO has been actively adding real-world assets (RWA), such as tokenized U.S. treasury bonds, to its DAI stablecoin collateral.

    Exposure to short-term U.S. treasuries has introduced a new income stream for MakerDAO in the form of treasury yields, which stood at two-decade-high levels in the U.S. for the majority of 2024.

    According to Coinbase Instituional’s report, MakerDAO was the second most successful dApp during Q3 2024 with a 90-day annualized revenue of $261 million, which valued MakerDAO’s MKR token at a revenue multiple of 6x at the end of Q3 2024

    3. Aerodrome Finance (AERO) – $192M

    Supported by core developer Coinbase’s effort to attract more crypto users on-chain, Base became the largest Ethereum L2 in terms of total value locked (TVL) in October 2024. No dApp has capitalized on Base’s growing popularity, like the decentralized exchange Aerodrome Finance.

    The Aerodrome Finance DEX is at the heart of Base, accounting for over 55% of all onchain token swaps on the network.

    Attractive liquidity provider incentives, a focus on active governance participation, and concentrated liquidity pools have helped Aerodrome Finance attract liquidity, provide low trading fees, and offer minimal slippages.

    It is no surprise that Aerodrome Finance was the third most successful dApp in the third quarter of 2024, with a 90-day annualized revenue of $192 million.

    Aerodrome Finance’s governance token AERO has returned over 1,300% since its February 2024 launch. At the end of the third quarter of 2024, the AERO token was valued at a revenue multiple of 6x.

    4. Ethena Finance (ENA) – $112M

    Ethereum-based stablecoin protocol Ethena Finance was the fourth most successful dApp in the third quarter of 2024, following the success of its USDe stablecoin and growing interest in its governance token ENA.

    When Ethena Finance introduced the USDe token—which it calls a “synthetic dollar”—in February 2024, the protocol made headlines because it used a delta-neutral position strategy to maintain USDe’s dollar peg.

    This strategy helps Ethena Finance generate the majority of its revenue from funding and basis spread earned from the delta hedging derivatives positions. The protocol also earns income by staking USDe’s Ethereum collateral.

    Ethena Finance’s revenue could get a further boost in the future following the launch of its decentralized exchange called Ethereal.

    The Coinbase Institutional report showed that at the end of the third quarter of 2024, the ENA token was valued at a revenue multiple of 42x.

    5. Lido Finance (LDO) – $93M

    Lido Finance pioneered liquid staking on Ethereum by making staking more accessible to crypto users. Staking is an illiquid and expensive process that requires a user to lock up a minimum of 32 ETH (worth over $82,000 at the time of writing).

    With liquid staking platforms like Lido Finance, users can now stake as little as $1 worth of ETH. Additionally, Lido Finance solved ETH staking’s illiquidity problem by issuing an ETH-pegged token that is free to use across DeFi.

    Since Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, Lido Finance has become so successful that many critics see its dominance as a threat to Ethereum’s decentralization. As of October 2024, about 28% of staked ETH supply was deposited using Lido’s staking platform.

    According to Coinbase Institutional’s report, Lido Finance was the fifth highest-earning dApp during the third quarter of 2024. Its governance token, LDO, was valued at a revenue multiple of 13x.

    6. Jupiter (JUP) – $75M

    Solana-based DEX Jupiter started 2024 with a bang after surpassing Uniswap in terms of daily trading volume. The surge in trading volume on Jupiter came at the back of a memecoin frenzy and booming airdrop market on Solana.

    Shortly thereafter, Jupiter’s plans to airdrop its governance token JUP in late January 2024 ensured that it would continue to be a preferred trading platform on Solana.

    The DEX has consistently released new offerings to enhance user experience, such as the Jupiter mobile app and meme coin trading platform Ape.Pro.

    According to Coinbase Institutional’s report, Jupiter was the sixth-highest earning dApp during the third quarter of 2024. Its governance token, JUP, was valued at a revenue multiple of 118x.

    7. Aave (AAVE) – $70M

    Aave is a crypto lending protocol where suppliers provide liquidity to the market for interest while borrowers provide collateral to borrow cryptocurrencies.

    The lending platform has been a mainstay of the DeFi world since 2017, when it launched as “ETHLend” on Ethereum. Since then, Aave has grown to become a multichain protocol with integrations across 13 different blockchains.

    It is also the most popular decentralized crypto lending platform, with a TVL of over $12.8 billion. As of October 2024, only Lido Finance ($25.3 billion) boasted a higher TVL than Aave across all dApps.

    Aave, which generates revenue from interest and liquidation fees, was the seventh most successful dApp during the third quarter of 2024. Its governance token, AAVE, was valued at a revenue multiple of 38x.

    8. Raydium (RAY) – $62M

    Like Jupiter, Solana-based DEX Raydium is another benefactor of Solana’s booming popularity as seen in 2024.

    An influx of new users and a surge in on-chain transaction volume amid a memecoin frenzy on Solana have combined to help Raydium earn higher revenues than notable layer one (L1) and layer 2 (L2) rollups such as TON, Base, Optimism, and Arbitrum during the third quarter of 2024.

    At the time of writing, only Uniswap had a higher 24-hour trade volume than Raydium.

    According to Coinbase Instituional’s report, Raydium posted a 90-day annualized revenue of $62 million, which valued its governance token RAY at a price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 14.

    9. Pancake Swap (CAKE) – $49M

    The Pancake Swap DEX is synonymous with the BNB Chain (formerly Binance Smart Chain). Founded in September 2020, Pancake Swap made waves as a user-friendly version of AMM pioneer Uniswap by offering low swap fees, innovative features, and fast transactions on the BNB Chain.

    Since then, the DEX has expanded to cater to nine different blockchains. As of October 2024, Pancake Swap was the second-most popular DEX in the world in terms of all-time trade volume ($858.5 billion).

    According to Coinbase Institutional’s report, Pancake Swap was the ninth-highest earning dApp during the third quarter of 2024. Its governance token, CAKE was valued at a revenue multiple of 16x.

    10. Velodrome Finance (VELO) – $22M

    Velodrome Finance is the most popular DEX on Ethereum L2 chain Optimism (OP).

    The DEX was created by the same developers who created Aerodrome Finance on Base. In fact, Velodrome Finance was used as a blueprint to design Aerodrome Finance. The former is not as successful as the latter, simply because Base L2 has managed to attract more capital, users and developers than Optimism to its shores.

    According to Coinbase Instituional’s report, Velodrome Finance posted a 90-day annualized revenue of $22 million, which valued its governance token VELO at a price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 8 at the end of the third quarter of 2024.

    The Bottom Line

    Some may say that using stock market techniques in crypto investing is like comparing apples to oranges.

    Whatever the consensus on this matter, learning about a protocol’s revenue growth can help you understand the demand for its products.

    More importantly, since decentralized crypto networks are powered by incentives, it is important to know whether a decentralized project is economically sustainable.

    Hopefully, you now have a clearer insight into protocols that serve useful functions across the crypto sphere.

    FAQs

    Which dApp earned the most revenue in Q3 2024?

    Can crypto revenue multiples help evaluate dApp investments?

    What is the role of governance tokens in these dApps?

    Is investing in dApps risky?

    How can I invest in a dApp without a native token?

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    Mensholong Lepcha
    Crypto Specialist
    Mensholong Lepcha
    Crypto Specialist

    Mensholong is a experienced crypto and blockchain journalist, now a full-time writer at Techopedia. He has contributed with news coverage and in-depth market analysis to Capital.com, StockTwits, XBO, and other publications. He began his writing career at Reuters in 2017, covering global equity markets. In his spare time, Mensholong enjoys watching soccer, finding new music, and buying BTC and ETH for his crypto portfolio.