L2s Drain Ethereum's Revenue, Raising Value-Capture Model Concerns

L2s have become a highly profitable business, absorbing users and liquidity at extremely low cost while paying minimal settlement fees to Ethereum.

Growthepie data shows that on-chain revenue across the Ethereum ecosystem has reached $52.19 million since the start of this month, with top L2s like Robinhood Chain, Base, and Polygon generating substantial revenue.

However, this has led to concerns about Ethereum's value-capture model, as it seems that the platform is not reaping the corresponding dividends from the high revenue earned by L2s.

According to Growthepie data, top L2s like Robinhood Chain are paying minimal fees to Ethereum while earning millions of dollars in revenue. In fact, Robinhood Chain's single-day revenue on September 4 reached $8.36 million, while the fees it paid to Ethereum during the same period were only about $722.

Experts have pointed out that this business structure may be a problem for Ethereum and questioned whether the platform should provide security premium at extremely low cost over the long term.