NODO Weekly: Ethereum’s REV Decline, Celestia’s Rise, and Maple’s Comeback

This week’s charts highlight three major storylines in crypto. Ethereum’s Real Economic Value (REV) has dropped 95% from its peak, as execution migrates to Layer 2s and blob fees fail to fill the gap. 

Meanwhile, Celestia has overtaken Ethereum in data availability dominance, thanks to higher throughput and lower costs. 

On a more optimistic note, Maple Finance has pulled off a stunning comeback, reclaiming its all-time high TVL after a brutal 90% drawdown. The charts reveal where the market is breaking—and where it’s quietly rebuilding.

1. Ethereum's Declining REV 

REV stands for Real Economic Value—the portion of on-chain value generated from genuine user activity that flows directly to Ethereum service providers and ETH holders. It excludes any artificial metrics like token incentives or payments made to block builders.

An increase in REV signals protocol growth and real adoption, which is why driving higher REV is a core objective for any blockchain ecosystem. The chart below illustrates Ethereum’s declining Real Economic Value (REV), excluding blob fees. Since reaching its peak four years ago, Ethereum’s REV has dropped by 95%.

REV on Ethereum is composed of four main elements: base fees, priority fees, blob fees, and MEV (Maximal Extractable Value).

Base fees represent the minimum amount of ETH required to process a transaction on Ethereum L1. They adjust dynamically with network congestion to maintain 50% block utilization. Importantly, base fees are burned—permanently removing ETH from circulation. When burned ETH offsets new ETH issuance, it can make the supply deflationary, benefiting ETH holders. This dynamic functions similarly to a stock buyback, returning value to long-term holders by reducing supply.

Over the past 90 days, base fees have accounted for roughly 50% of Ethereum’s total Real Economic Value (REV). However, base fee revenue has been in consistent decline since its peak in 2021—a trend that’s both expected and unavoidable as Ethereum scales. With the rise of rollups and the implementation of EIP-4844, transaction costs are falling, and so is L1 fee revenue.

Priority fees are now at their lowest level in the past four years, down 88% from the 2021 peak and 55% from the depths of the 2022 bear market. Since priority fees are only paid on Ethereum L1, this decline reflects the broader shift in execution to Layer 2s. As more user activity migrates to rollups, base fees will follow, and priority fees on the mainnet will continue to shrink.

Blob fees—introduced through EIP-4844—currently make up just 2% of Ethereum’s Real Economic Value (REV). These fees are paid by Layer 2s to Ethereum in exchange for data availability and, like base fees, are burned and removed from circulation. As Ethereum continues to scale through L2s, we should expect the majority of transactions—potentially 95% or more—to occur on rollups. This naturally reduces L1 execution and, by extension, the base fees collected on mainnet.

In theory, blob fees were designed to help offset this decline by becoming a new revenue stream for Ethereum as activity shifts to L2. While not expected to match base fees 1:1, they were still anticipated to account for a meaningful share of REV over time. So far, however, that hasn’t materialized—blob fees are not only low, they’re also trending downward.

MEV, or Maximal Extractable Value, refers to additional fees paid by users or bots—commonly called “searchers”—to have their transactions included in a favorable order within a block. These fees are received by block builders, who in turn use them to incentivize validators to include their blocks. MEV currently accounts for around 22% of Ethereum’s Real Economic Value (REV), but it's down 86% from its peak. MEV is inherently volatile and applies only to Layer 1 transactions, which means as activity migrates to Layer 2s, MEV-based revenue on the mainnet is expected to decline even further.

This trend extends beyond MEV. As more execution shifts to L2s, base fees, priority fees, and MEV on L1 will continue to erode. The hope is that blob fees—paid by L2s to Ethereum for data availability—will compensate for this drop. But if blob fees remain weak, Ethereum’s total REV will continue to decline, raising questions about the sustainability of its current valuation.

2. Data Availability Check-Up

We’ve argued that for Ethereum’s Real Economic Value (REV) to rise meaningfully, it must generate enough blob fees to offset the ongoing decline in execution fees—namely, base fees, priority fees, and MEV. So, how are blob fees holding up? And what does Ethereum’s broader Data Availability (DA) landscape look like?

Since the launch of EIP-4844 just over a year ago, Ethereum has generated around $26 million in blob-related fees.

As noted in previous issues, Ethereum isn’t the most competitive DA layer when viewed from a purely technical standpoint. Blob throughput is capped at 32 KB/s, while Celestia currently supports 8MB blocks—roughly 200x Ethereum’s current capacity. Although Ethereum plans to double blob capacity per block from 3 to 6 with the upcoming Pectra upgrade, Celestia is aiming even higher, with a roadmap targeting 182MB blocks. For more on Pectra, check out Julia’s excellent breakdown.

Because of these constraints, Ethereum blobs are significantly more expensive. Even though blob costs have dropped recently, Celestia remains over 10x cheaper on a per $/MiB basis. During high-demand periods—like Q4 last year—Ethereum’s blobs were nearly 100x more expensive. While blob pricing on Ethereum is volatile and market-sensitive, Celestia’s costs have steadily declined since launch.

Thanks to its technical edge, Celestia now dominates over 80% of the DA market—a complete reversal from just a year ago, when Ethereum held a commanding 90% share.

3. Maple Finance Comeback

Maple Finance, a lending protocol focused on institutional borrowing, was once a darling of the DeFi space. By early 2022, its Total Value Locked (TVL) had soared to an impressive $950M, as tracked by DefiLlama. But the crypto bear market of 2022-2023 hit hard. By mid-2023, Maple’s TVL had plummeted by over 80%, dropping to a mere $100M. For most protocols, such a decline is a death sentence—trust erodes, users flee, and recovery becomes a distant dream.

The chart above tells the story of Maple’s fall and rise. The steep drop in 2023 was a low point, but a pivotal moment—marked by their V2 deployment—set the stage for an extraordinary recovery.

The Turnaround: Innovation and Adaptation.

Maple Finance didn’t just sit back and accept defeat. With the launch of their V2 protocol in 2023, they began a strategic overhaul that would change their trajectory. The team doubled down on their core strength: providing overcollateralized loans to institutional borrowers. This focus ensured a steady stream of loan fees, even in a cautious market. But Maple’s ambitions went further.

They expanded into institutional asset management, launching lstBTC, a BTC liquid staking product that allowed users to earn yield while maintaining liquidity. This move brought in additional management fees, diversifying their revenue streams and stabilizing their financial foundation. 

The results were undeniable. As shown in the Dune Analytics chart below, Maple’s monthly protocol revenue began a consistent upward trend, growing quarter-over-quarter for two straight years. By April 2025, their year-to-date revenue had reached $1.3M, translating to an annualized run rate of $4.1M.

Maple’s growth wasn’t just about internal innovation—strategic partnerships played a crucial role. In early 2025, they announced an integration with Spark protocol, securing a $50M allocation into SyrupUSDC, their yield-bearing stablecoin backed by overcollateralized institutional loans. This partnership not only boosted Maple’s TVL to a record $934M but also signaled to the market that they were a trusted player in the DeFi ecosystem.

What makes Maple Finance’s story so remarkable is its resilience. While most protocols would have crumbled after an 80% TVL decline, Maple pivoted, innovated, and rebuilt. They turned their focus to institutional-grade products, leveraged partnerships, and delivered consistent revenue growth. By April 15, 2025, their TVL had soared to $934M—a new all-time high—proving that their comeback wasn’t just a recovery, but a reinvention.

Despite Maple's impressive comeback, DeFi as a whole has yet to stage a full recovery. Total Value Locked (TVL) across the ecosystem remains well below its all-time high of $180 billion set nearly four years ago. While TVL briefly rebounded to $137 billion, it has since declined by 34%, now sitting at around $90 billion.

Written by Pascal Abams — Research Analyst at NODO. I research on-chain trends, market narratives, and investment opportunities in crypto. If you have thoughts, insights, or just want to connect, reach out

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