REV: An Emerging Indicator of On-Chain Data
As a recent emerging indicator of on-chain data, REV reveals the real economic activities of public chains and the demand for block space, attempting to capture the economic vitality of L1 more accurately. However, Solana’s dominance has sparked criticism from the Ethereum-supporting segment of the crypto community for oversimplifying the situation. This indicator dispute may unveil a new chapter in the assessment standards for public chains.
What is REV? Uncovering the “Real Value” of On-Chain Economy
REV, short for Real Economic Value, is a new metric for measuring the revenue of blockchain protocols. Unlike traditional approaches that only consider Base Transaction Fees, REV includes all on-chain revenues directly related to bidding for block space, such as:
- Base Fees: The fundamental execution cost of transactions.
- Priority Fees: Additional fees paid by users to prioritize their transactions on-chain.
- MEV Tips: Extra income earned by validators through transaction ordering, such as Jito tips on Solana.
The aim is to more accurately reflect market demand for block space and serve as a unified tool for comparing the “economic activity” among public chains.
Which Public Chains Stand Out in the REV Arena?
According to statistics from Blockworks Research’s charts on “Network REV, Application Revenue by Chain, Blockchain Key Stats,” the following public chains performed prominently in the 30-day data ending May 2025:
Solana’s Network REV reached $121 million, accounting for 48.2% of the entire chain, while its App Revenue hit $226 million, representing 65.9% of total application revenue. Clearly, Solana is currently the dual champion of REV and application layer revenue, outperforming other public chains significantly.
Tron’s protocol layer revenue reached $53.48 million, accounting for 21.3% of the entire chain, but its App Revenue was only $686,000, a decline of 9.1%, indicating that its on-chain economic activities are concentrated on non-application layer uses.
Ethereum’s Network REV stood at $36.66 million, representing 14.6% of the entire chain, while its App Revenue amounted to $49.31 million, accounting for 14.3% of total application revenue. The proportion of REV in Ethereum appears conservative compared to Solana, showcasing a solid economic foundation and a mature application layer ecosystem.
Other chains, including BNB Chain, Base, Arbitrum, and Polygon PoS, displayed low REV shares, indicating lower network activity, though their App Revenue remained at a reasonable level, with protocol layer revenue still at a lower tier.
The Advantages and Blind Spots of the REV Metric: A New Indicator of Value or Overly Biased?
Advantages
- More Comprehensive Revenue Measurement: Including MEV and tips allows on-chain economic activities to be more accurately assessed.
- Quantifying Block Space Demand: A high REV indicates high competition and potentially signifies heightened activity.
- Facilitating Cross-Chain Comparisons: Provides measurable criteria for investors and researchers to quickly assess the real-time economic activity of public chains.
Disadvantages
- Oversimplifying Network Value: Focusing solely on short-term revenue and its volatility fails to reflect developer community engagement, network effects, and potential for ecological development.
- Controversial MEV: MEV is often seen as a disadvantage to users, and including it in REV may amplify its negative effects.
- Ignoring Long-Term Mechanism Design: Policies like Ethereum’s EIP-1559 fee burning contribute to long-term scarcity but are not reflected in REV.
Why are the E-Watchers Rising Against REV?
Opponents, including sassal.eth and Mary, have articulated three main criticisms of REV on X:
- Overemphasis on Short-Term Data: Underestimating Ethereum’s long-term potential, as aspects like developer adoption, infrastructure development, and L2 ecosystems cannot be measured by REV.
- Mischaracterizing MEV as Revenue: MEV is viewed as a “hidden tax,” detrimental to user experience and long-term economic development, and should be minimized.
- Imbalanced Comparison of ETH and Solana: REV emphasizes transaction volume and fees, which disadvantages Ethereum’s focus on security and decentralized design, rendering it a “unfair assessment” or even a tool for “diminishing ETH.”
However, neutral opinions exist, such as that of Matt Huang, co-founder of Paradigm, who pointed out that while REV is not perfect, it remains a proxy for blockchain economic activity, provided it is used without bias.
Is REV a New Assessment Standard for L1 or a Misleading Indicator?
REV undoubtedly brings new perspectives to the analysis and evaluation of public chains, offering a quantitative foundation for measuring the true usage of networks. However, like other metrics, including TVL and App Revenue, it is not a universal standard.
For Solana, REV serves as a testament to its glorious achievements; for Ethereum supporters, REV represents an immature assessment method. In the future, if paired with data on developer activity, network effects, and protocol deflation, it may form a more complete on-chain evaluation model.
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