The USDT issuer topped 24-hour revenue rankings on DefiLlama, powered almost entirely by yield on its reserves
Tether generated $16.4 million in fee revenue over a single 24-hour window. That put the USDT issuer ahead of both Tron and Circle in the daily revenue rankings.
DefiLlama dashboards from late October 2026 show Tether’s 24-hour fees and revenue at somewhere between approximately $16.38 million and $16.99 million. The range reflects slightly different readings across the dashboards. Either way, the stablecoin giant sat at the top of the blockchain revenue leaderboard.
Where the money actually comes from
Tether’s daily haul did not come from on-chain transaction fees. According to the DefiLlama data, all of it was sourced off-chain.
Tether and Circle earn revenue from yields on the reserves that back their tokens. Those reserves include US Treasury bills and repurchase agreements, which are short-term loans backed by government securities. Every USDT in circulation represents a dollar parked in assets that pay interest, and Tether keeps that interest.
Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin, runs a similar playbook. It also earns yield from its reserve assets. In this snapshot, however, Circle’s revenue trailed Tether’s.
Zoom out to a monthly view and the figures grow larger still. Tether’s trailing 30-day revenue came in between $490 million and $522 million, based on the research data. Annualized, that points to a run rate of around $5.96 billion to $6.3 billion.
Tron’s very different paycheck
Tron showed up in the rankings for a different reason. Its approximately $555,000 in 24-hour revenue was chain revenue, meaning fees paid by users to transact on the network.
The blockchain hosts an estimated $92 billion of USDT supply and processes the majority of USDT settlement volume. The network has built that position on high throughput and low fees.
Background: stablecoin issuers keep topping the charts
Stablecoin issuers frequently land at the top of protocol revenue rankings, according to the research data. They often outearn decentralized applications and most layer-1 networks on a consistent basis.
Tether has long held the title of largest stablecoin issuer by market capitalization. USDT functions as a core medium for moving value and supplying trading liquidity across many blockchain networks.
Platforms like DefiLlama have become a go-to source for tracking these figures. Their dashboards let market participants compare revenue across issuers, chains and apps, even when those businesses earn money in fundamentally different ways.
What this means
USDT holders do not share in the yield that Tether collects on reserves. The revenue flows to the issuer.
Because Tether and Circle earn primarily from yields on backing assets, their revenue is tied to what those assets pay. If yields on short-term government debt shift, issuer income would likely shift with them.
Tron’s revenue depends on USDT settlement volume continuing to flow through its network. With an estimated $92 billion of USDT supply living on Tron, the chain is deeply intertwined with Tether’s fortunes.
