Published July 202653 pagesCastle Labs · Kaiko
The Verticalisation Thesis: How Blockchain Revenue Models Are Evolving
Covering the expansion of revenue streams by blockchains
“The old business model of selling blockspace is not enough to justify the high valuations of multiple blockchains.”
▮ The numbers that matter
$9.91B
Ethereum chain fees at the 2021 peak
-94.7%
Ethereum fee compression from 2021 to 2025
$881M
Hyperliquid perp DEX fees over the past year
$1B+
Hyperliquid fees generated in the last 12 months
$24M
HIP-3 revenue contribution since launch
$48B
Combined TVL across Ethereum, Tron, Solana, and Hyperliquid
The Thesis
Blockchains began as businesses that sold blockspace, but cheaper execution, rollup scaling, and competition from faster chains have compressed that revenue stream. The report maps the shift from horizontal ecosystems that rent neutral infrastructure to verticalised chains that own high-value primitives directly. Hyperliquid is the clearest proof point: the chain captures exchange, builder, market-deployer, priority-fee, and stablecoin-alignment revenue rather than relying on gas fees alone.
Covered in the report
EthereumArbitrumAvalancheSolanaHyperliquidTradeXYZBaseBSCMantleInkPlasmaMegaETHRobinhood ChainTempoTron
Inside
- 01Introduction
- 02The Decline of Blockchain Revenue
- 03Selling Blockspace is No Longer Enough
- 04The Case for Verticalisation: Hyperliquid
- 05Growing Exchange Chains
- 06The Case for New Chains
- 07Are most blockchains overvalued?
- 08Conclusion