Cardano Fees Cover Just 0.7% of Staking Rewards Amid 72% Transaction Decline

Cardano's staking rewards far outpaced transaction fees in recent months. According to Bitquery, Cardano collected 3.3 million ADA ($0.19) in transaction fees over the course of 73 epochs ending September 1, 2026.

This is a tiny fraction of the 493.7 million ADA in staking rewards earned by the network during that same period. In fact, fees covered only 0.668% of total rewards, leaving the reward total roughly 149.6 times larger than fee revenue.

The disparity between transaction fees and staking rewards is significant. To put it into perspective, Cardano's daily transactions fell by 72.46% in 2026 compared to 2022, with an average of 24,869 transactions per day last year versus 90,294 per day two years ago.

The network's reserve emissions supplied the dominant share of reward revenue during this period, while automated activity became a larger part of the smaller total. The declining reserve contribution changes the reward side of the equation, potentially reducing the amount that fees would need to replace.