|5 min Read
Ethereum’s revenue plunge sparks a high-stakes debate
Maya Chen
Senior Analyst
Published
Jan 16, 2026
- 2025-09-15
A fight over the future
FOMO is loud. Doubt is louder. Ethereum’s price keeps printing highs, yet a revenue shock just split the room. On September 7, Messari enterprise research manager AJC said the network is “dying.” His point was blunt. August revenue was
157.4 million in August 2023, and down 40% from $64.8 million in August 2024. It is the fourth-lowest monthly take since January 2021. His post drew nearly 380,000 views and about 300 replies in two days. People care because money talks.The timing stings. ETH rides a bull wave, yet the activity mix is shifting. After the 2024 Dencun upgrade, Layer 2s like Base and Arbitrum took off. Mainnet fees fell. Revenue migrated up the stack. This year, “stock-coin” plays like SBET and BMNR stockpile ETH. Wall Street uses ETH as balance-sheet leverage. Ethereum looks like a flag for the industry. It points the way. It takes the hits.
Revenue hardliners say the alarm is real
AJC and allies keep it simple. Revenue is the right score for an L1. Fees and blockspace payments show real demand. Ethereum’s edge is blockspace for smart contracts and apps, not just store-of-value. If mainnet revenue trends toward zero, direct demand is shrinking. Even with many L2s, AJC argues the ecosystem lacks enough new users to fill all that capacity.
They tie revenue to ETH value. Fees are paid in ETH and burned. Burn drives deflation. If revenue collapses, burn slows, supply pressure rises, long-term value weakens. Last cycle, the community bragged about “blockspace premium” and fat income. Now it flips. To them that is not random. It is collapsing demand. The neutral version of this view says the network is the asset. Price can run on speculation for a while. Fundamentals catch up. We have seen that movie across crypto infrastructure.
The counterpunch: lower fees, bigger network
The pushback is fierce. Critics say treating Ethereum like a revenue-max tech company is the wrong category. Think currency. Think inelastic-supply commodity. Think emerging economy. In that frame, lower revenue is a design win. It drives adoption and growth.
Bankless co-founder David Hoffman likens Ethereum to early Singapore or Shenzhen. A pro-business city. You do not judge it by how much tax it collects. You judge it by how much commerce it enables. Former Wall Street trader and Etherealize founder Vivek Raman adds the obvious jab. Bitcoin has almost no revenue. No one calls that decline.
This view traces back to Vitalik Buterin’s early vision. ETH is the network’s “fuel.” Value comes from supply and demand, not quarterly reports. High fees repel users. That is a negative network effect. After Dencun, L2s absorbed load, mainnet fees dropped, and the door opened to wider DeFi, NFT, and institutional use.
Data points stack up. Varys Capital’s Tom Dunleavy says L1 revenue blocks ecosystem growth. Community analyst Ryan Berckmans notes that roughly 60% of stablecoin market cap sits on Ethereum, the U.S. Treasury Secretary has highlighted stablecoins, and on-chain activity is improving. That is not recession. That is scale.
What it means right now
This is a valuation fight. If you price ETH like a growth tech stock, collapsing revenue can signal weak demand and bubble risk. If you price ETH as a global settlement layer, the metric shifts. The question becomes simple. How much economic activity and trust does it secure. L2s do not “steal” value. They expand Ethereum’s reach. They amplify the settlement role.
Transitions hurt. Revenue dips. L2s eat share. Narratives clash. That can be the cost of maturity. The internet moved from paid dial-up to near-free broadband. ARPU fell. The digital economy exploded. Ethereum may be at that kind of bend in the curve. Lower mainnet income can make room for bigger growth. The debate itself proves Ethereum’s unique place. No one fights over Bitcoin’s “revenue.” Its gold role is settled. Ethereum carries a larger, messier vision. If it stays healthy, everyone wins. Miss it, and you watch others take the upside.
Disclaimer: This document is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views expressed in this document are not, and should not be taken as, investment advice or recommendations. Recipients should do their own due diligence, taking into account their specific financial circumstances, investment objectives and risk tolerance, which are not considered here, before investing. This document is not an offer, or the solicitation of an offer, to buy or sell any of the assets mentioned.