Tether Led Crypto Protocol Revenue in 2025 With $5.2B: CoinGecko

Tether led the crypto industry in profits in 2025. Its holdings stayed strong as asset prices rose. Elevated interest rates further boosted its earnings.

Tether Led in Crypto Revenue in 2025

CoinGecko and Token Terminal data show that Tether has been printing money over the past few years. This was aided by its business model and soaring asset prices.

According to CoinGecko, Tether generated over $5.2 billion in revenue in 2025. It accounted for 42% of the total revenue generated by protocols in the cryptocurrency industry.

Most notably, stablecoins were the most profitable protocols in the crypto industry. With this, four entities made 65.7% of the total revenue in the industry.

Tether operates several stablecoins, with USDT being its biggest. It also operates Tether Gold and stablecoins that track the Mexican peso and Chinese yuan.

USDT, its flagship stablecoin, has been in strong growth in the past few years. Data compiled by CoinMarketCap shows that its market capitalization jumped to over $186 billion. That’s up from $139 billion 12 months ago.

More data compiled by Artemis shows that the usage has continued rising in the past few months. It’s a trend that will accelerate in the coming weeks.

USDT had over $1.1 trillion in volume in the last 30 days. As the chart below shows, it had over 709 million transactions and has over 33.1 million addresses.

Most transactions occurred on centralized exchanges like Binance and Coinbase. DeFi protocols handled the next largest share. Infrastructure providers and payments completed the remaining activity.

Tether Benefited From the Rising Asset Prices and the GENIUS Act

Tether and other stablecoin companies make money by investing their assets into yield-generating assets. According to the GENIUS Act, stablecoins operating in the United States must invest in liquid assets like short-term government bonds.

However, Tether uses a different approach, where it invests in different assets that help it generate more returns. Data on its website shows that it invests in assets like secured loans, Bitcoin, precious metals, and corporate bonds.

Secured loans account for 8% of its assets, followed by precious metals, which hold 7.13% of its assets. 77% of its holdings are in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term deposits. Tether has over $181 billion in total assets against over $174 billion in liabilities.

Tether’s revenue growth will likely continue rising, accelerating as more people start using stablecoins to move money globally. Analysts expect the stablecoin industry to grow fast. It could rise from $308 billion to over $1 trillion. Tether is projected to hold the largest market share.

Tether’s growth has led to a sharp increase in its valuation. In September, the company said that it was raising funds at a $500 billion valuation.

It’s a move that would make it the third most valuable private company after SpaceX and OpenAI. That valuation would make it more valuable than other companies like Coinbase and Binance.

Other Top Profitable Protocols

Data compiled by TokenTerminal shows that Tether made over $5.3 billion in protocol revenue in the last 365 days.

Tron is the second most profitable player in the crypto industry, making over $3.5 billion in the same period. Its growth happened because it is a major player in USDT transactions.

Circle, the company behind USDC, made $2.4 billion in revenue in the last 365 days. The challenge, however, is that Circle has a partnership with Coinbase. This partnership means that Coinbase retains all the USDC interest it makes in its platform.

The other top chains ranked by revenue are Hyperliquid and Pump.fun, Axiom Trade, Ethena, and Sky. The latter two protocols own top yield-bearing assets that have become popular among users.