Fee Yield

Fee yield uses gross fees, before any split between the protocol and the parties supplying the service, as a percentage of circulating market capitalization. It is the broadest of the yield-style figures on this site and the least dependent on modeling choices, because it does not require an analyst to decide who keeps what. Comparing it with the narrower revenue yield shows how much of the fee stream is paid out to liquidity providers, validators, or other service suppliers.

How it is computed

(total protocol fees over the last 30 days x 365/30) / circulating market capitalization x 100

Where it misleads

Gross fees include amounts that never accrue to the protocol or to token holders in any form, so a high figure can coexist with a protocol that retains nothing. Fees paid to validators or liquidity providers are compensation for a cost those parties bear, which this figure treats as if it were a benefit associated with the token. Wash activity costs little when the fee returns to the payer through a pool or validator they control, so the denominator of usage can be manufactured. Trailing 30-day annualization projects one month of congestion or quiet across a full year.

The equity comparison, and why it fails

Revenue yield, or sales per dollar of market capitalization. The analogy fails because gross protocol fees are payments to several unrelated parties recorded on a ledger, not the recognized revenue of a single reporting entity in which the holder owns a residual interest.

Reading a high or a low value

A higher percentage means the fees users pay over a year are large relative to market capitalization; a lower percentage means they are small relative to it. The figure describes activity flowing through the system, not amounts received by holders.