DeFi Consolidation Accelerates: Top Apps Capture 80% of Revenue
The concentration of revenue in DeFi is accelerating at an unprecedented rate.
A handful of applications are dominating fee generation across Ethereum and its layer-2 ecosystems, leaving little room for smaller teams to survive. According to ARK Invest researcher Lorenzo Valente, Hyperliquid and PumpFun alone account for 67% of total application revenue, with the top three projects reaching nearly 80%
This trend is forcing smaller teams to either shut down or be absorbed by larger players. PumpFun, a Solana meme coin launchpad, has laid off staff aggressively ahead of its PUMP token unlock, while Aave is restructuring to focus on institutional features and shed low-utilization asset reserves.
The consolidation narrative also highlights the growing importance of aggregation in DeFi. Uniswap launched 'Launches', a beta aggregator tab inside its web app, while 1inch opened Aqua, its shared liquidity layer, to all users. This intensifies the race to become the default execution layer for onchain activity.