According to Bitwise's latest Q3 2026 Staking Report, Ethereum network fee revenue fell 51% year-on-year to roughly $64 million in Q2 2026, even as transaction activity increased significantly. The decline was attributed to cheaper and more abundant blockspace rather than fading user interest, as reported by Bitwise. Ethereum processed 203.9 million transactions in the quarter, up from 121.1 million a year earlier, while throughput rose to 26 transactions per second from 15 as the block gas limit increased to 60 million. Despite the dollar revenue decline, quarterly revenue actually rebounded sequentially in ETH terms for the first time in over a year, reaching 31,166 ETH in Q2 2025 compared to 27,670 ETH in Q1 2025. As reported by Bitwise, this increase was primarily due to ETH's price weakness during the period, which masked the underlying growth in transaction volume.
According to the Bitwise Q3 2026 Staking Report, active staking reached a record 40.2 million ETH, representing about 33% of total supply, amid continued institutional inflows. This growth in staking activity occurred alongside the rising transaction volumes, indicating sustained network engagement despite the revenue decline. The report noted that "the divergence between revenue and activity is the theme of the quarter. While fees fell, usage climbed." A significant development in institutional adoption was BlackRock's launch of the Ethereum Staking ETF (ETHB), marking a major milestone for institutional participation in blockchain staking. The report attributed the gap between fee revenue and activity to protocol design changes that made blockspace cheaper and more abundant, enabling users to pay less per transaction.
As reported by Bitwise, the pattern extended beyond Ethereum with mixed results across other major networks. Solana's Q2 Real Economic Value (REV) dropped to $51 million, a significant decline from its Q1 2025 peak of $8.12 billion, yet non-voting transaction volume reached 9.8 billion, demonstrating resilient on-chain activity. Avalanche C-chain transaction volume surged approximately fourfold year-over-year to 236 million, but network revenue plummeted to just $330,000 due to sharply reduced fees. NEAR experienced a 75% drop in Q2 on-chain transactions to 77.7 million due to a collapse in Kai-Ching app activity, yet the Intents execution layer generated fees roughly 68 times higher than the base chain. The report emphasized that "lower congestion, not weaker use, brought fees down" across multiple networks, suggesting this trend reflects improved network efficiency rather than declining demand.
According to the Bitwise Q3 2026 Staking Report, Hyperliquid emerged as a notable exception with Q2 protocol total revenue of $174.8 million, driven by perpetual contract trading volume hitting $652 billion. Notably, the share of non-crypto assets (commodities, indices, etc.) rose to 32% of total volume, indicating growing institutional and traditional asset participation in decentralized trading. This performance demonstrates how alternative revenue models can generate substantial returns while traditional blockchain fees decline, highlighting the diversification potential within the crypto ecosystem.
