Open Blockchain Business: Who Gets the Fees and Why a Foundation is Needed
Business of Open Blockchain: Who Gets the Fees and Why a Foundation is Needed
In public blockchains, user transaction fees do not simply become "revenue" for a single entity. The flow of money is complex and protocol-dependent. In Ethereum, fees consist of a base fee (burned, permanently removing ETH from circulation) and a priority tip (paid to the validator). In Solana, half the base fee is burned and half goes to the validator, while priority fees go entirely to validators. Thus, "fees" are not synonymous with "project revenue"; they may go to network operators or be destroyed.
Foundations like the Ethereum Foundation do not take a cut of user fees. They are funded by their own treasuries, which can generate income (e.g., from staking rewards) and finance ecosystem development, research, and security. Their role is to fund public goods that are hard to monetize directly.
Developers of open-source blockchain code can monetize through services, not the code itself. For example, Optimism provides its technology freely but sells enterprise support and managed services (OP Enterprise). Additionally, networks built on Optimism's tech, like Coinbase's Base, share a portion of their revenue with the Optimism ecosystem via agreements, creating an economic link.
Token holders do not automatically receive fees as dividends. In Optimism, a portion of protocol revenue is now used to buy back and treasury-lock OP tokens, creating an indirect link between network usage and token economics. In Ethereum, fee burning reduces ETH supply but doesn't distribute funds to all holders; stakers and validators receive direct rewards.
For evaluation, analysts should look beyond total fee figures. Key questions are: Who paid and for what? Where did the money go (to validators, operators, treasury, or burning)? What were the recipient's costs? Is there a mechanism linking this income to the token? The same fee amount impacts different blockchain economies in vastly different ways depending on these factors.
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