Stablecoin issuers' revenue is 7 times the fees of 13 chains

Tether and Circle generated a combined ~$2.1 billion in revenue in Q3 2026, roughly 7.4x the $285 million in transaction fees earned across 13 public blockchains, according to an OAK Research report dated October 30. The analysis attributes the gap to differing revenue models between stablecoin issuers and the chains they run on. Stablecoin market capitalization has grown from $4 billion in January 2020 to about $298 billion at the time of the report, and reached $310 billion by late April 2026—more than triple total DeFi deposits. The findings matter because they highlight how value capture is concentrating with issuers rather than the underlying networks. Next, watch whether fee growth on chains can narrow the gap as stablecoin supply and DeFi deposits continue to expand.