DeFiLlama founder: In the past two months, more traditional institutions have requested DeFi information than ever before, and KOLs named these two protocols

Recently, defillama co-founder @0xngmi stated: "In the past two months, defillama has received many contacts from traditional financial institutions about DeFi data, far more than before, which seems to indicate a clear increase in traditional finance's interest in decentralized finance." KOL Yueya.eth also pointed out that veteran protocols like Aave and Curve are the easiest DeFi protocols to enter institutional perspectives. He analyzed: "This is an important signal: TradFi is systematically studying DeFi. They are not coming to create a narrative, but to re-examine: which protocols have clear structures, controllable risks, and clear revenue logic. In other words, which can enter their risk control framework and allocation models." He believes Aave is the most standardized on-chain lending protocol, with clear floating rates, collateral rules, liquidation lines, standard logic, and transparent parameters. The isolated market mechanism introduced in Aave V3 aligns with the institutional "risk zoning" management approach. Curve is the underlying clearing layer for stablecoin liquidity, with its low-slippage AMM mechanism supporting large stablecoin exchanges, naturally functioning as an "on-chain foreign exchange market". As a summary, he believes whether DeFi can enter traditional institutional perspectives depends on: - Is the data structure clear? - Is the revenue model predictable? - Can risk parameters be implemented? - Can it be integrated into existing systems? REV, as an emerging on-chain data indicator, reveals the real economic activity and block space demand of public chains, attempting to more accurately capture the economic vitality of L1. However, Solana's dominance has also triggered criticism from the crypto community, primarily Ethereum supporters, for being overly simplified. This indicator dispute may open a new chapter in public chain evaluation standards.

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What is REV? Revealing the "Real Value" of Chain Economy

REV, full name Real Economic Value, is a new metric for measuring blockchain protocol revenue. Unlike traditional methods that only look at base transaction fees, REV considers all income directly related to block space bidding, including:

• Base Fees: Basic transaction execution cost

• Priority Fees: Additional fees paid by users to prioritize transactions

• MEV Tips: Additional income earned by validators through transaction ordering, such as Jito tips on Solana

Its purpose is to more accurately reflect market demand for block space and serve as a unified tool for comparing the "economic activity" of public chains.

Which Public Chains Stand Out in the REV Arena?

According to Blockworks Research's three charts, in the 30-day data from May 2025, the most outstanding public chains are:

Solana

Network REV reached $121 million, accounting for 48.2% of the chain, with App Revenue reaching $226 million, occupying 65.9% of total application revenue. Evidently, Solana is currently the double champion of REV and application layer revenue, far surpassing other public chains.

Tron

Protocol layer revenue reached $53.48 million, accounting for 21.3%, but App Revenue was only $686,000, declining by 9.1%, indicating that its on-chain economic activities are concentrated in non-application layer purposes.

Ethereum

Network REV was $36.66 million, accounting for 14.6% of the chain, with App Revenue of $49.31 million, occupying 14.3% of total application revenue. Its REV share appears conservative compared to Solana, demonstrating a stable economic foundation and mature application layer ecosystem.

The low REV Share of other chains including BNB Chain, Base, Arbitrum, and Polygon PoS indicates lower network activity, though their App Revenue remains at a certain level, with protocol layer revenue still at a relatively low level.

REV Indicator's Advantages and Blind Spots: A New Value Indicator or Overly Biased?

Advantages

• More Comprehensive Revenue Measurement: Including MEV and tips prevents underestimation of on-chain economic activity.

• Quantifying Block Space Demand: High REV represents high competition and potentially high activity.

• Facilitates Cross-Chain Comparison: Provides a measurable basis for investors and researchers to quickly assess a public chain's immediate economic activity.

Disadvantages

• Oversimplifying Network Value: Focusing only on short-term, volatile income without reflecting developer community, network effects, and ecosystem development potential.

• MEV Controversy: MEV is often viewed as disadvantageous to users, and including it in REV might amplify its negative effects.

• Ignoring Long-Term Mechanism Design: Mechanisms like Ethereum's EIP-1559 fee burning policy, which helps long-term scarcity, are not reflected in REV.

(What is Gas Limit? Vitalik Hints: Ethereum Will Significantly Increase Gas Limit in 2026, Aiming Not to Sacrifice Decentralization)

Why Are E Guards Collectively Opposing REV?

Opponents like sassal.eth and Mary expressed three major criticisms of REV on X:

1. Too Focused on Short-Term Data, Underestimating Ethereum's Long-Term Potential: Network metrics like developer adoption, infrastructure construction, and L2 ecosystem cannot be measured by REV.

Viewing MEV as Improper Income: MEV is seen as a "hidden tax" that is detrimental to user experience and long-term network economic development, and should be minimized.

Causing Imbalance in ETH and Solana Comparison: REV emphasizes transaction volume and fees, which appears unfavorable to Ethereum, which focuses on security and decentralized design, and lacks comparative significance. The community views it as an "unfair assessment" and even a tool to "talk down ETH".

However, Matt Huang, co-founder of Parrdigm, holds a neutral opinion, pointing out that while REV is not perfect, it is still a proxy indicator of blockchain economic activity, and one should avoid bias when using it.

(Is Declining Transaction Fees a Sign of Decline? Ignas: The Essence of Ethereum's Value Has Long Been Reshaped)

Is REV a New Assessment Standard for L1 or a Misleading Indicator?

REV undoubtedly brings new thinking to public chain analysis and assessment, and provides a quantitative basis for measuring the actual network usage. However, like other indicators such as TVL or App Revenue, it is not a universal standard.

For Solana, REV is a endorsement of glorious achievements; for Ethereum supporters, REV is an immature assessment method. In the future, if combined with developer activity, network effects, and protocol deflation data, it may constitute a more comprehensive on-chain assessment model.