Polymarket surges up fee generation charts with $7M day, Tether maintains lead
According to data available on DeFiLlama’s fees page, which tracks fees across various DeFi protocols, there was a huge spike in fees on the Polymarket platform.
The surge in fee generation could be attributed to a rise in user activity or transaction volume on the platform. Historically, the Polymarket prediction market platform records increased engagement during high-profile events, such as elections, major sports outcomes, or significant global developments, as punters scramble to place bets or speculate on outcomes.
On a monthly scale, the DefiLlama data shows that April has been Polymarket’s most profitable month in terms of fees. This is just the fifth day in the month, but the platform appears to have already amassed more than half of its all-time fees.
It sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. The data appears even more interesting on the weekly and daily fee charts. The weekly data shows that there was only average activity on the platform between January and March, but that changed in April, which is still in its first week at the time of this publication.
The daily fee data revealed even more. It showed that Polymarket fees did not really spike until April 3, when it recorded $7.33M. It has since maintained a value above $7M on a daily basis, reinforcing the platform’s recent spike.
Polymaket may be one of the rare winners of the “Liberation Day” tariff announcements by Donald Trump on April 2, 2025. The announcement saw him unveil a sweeping tariff plan targeting goods from nearly all countries, and it sent shockwaves through the traditional financial markets.
The Dow reflected this, reportedly dropping 3,700 points between April 2 and 3, while Polymarket’s recession odds jumped from 51% to 60% by April 4.
This reflects a frenzy of activity from punters who scrambled to wager on the economic outcomes directly tied to the tariff news. Public sentiments on X from April 3 align with this, showing Polymarket’s recession odds rose from 33% to 47% and inflation bets above 4% jumped from 17% to 48% within 48 hours, alongside a $2 trillion wipeout in US stock market value.
The spike in activity and fees aligns with Polymarket’s historical pattern of fee spikes during high-stakes events—like the 2024 US presidential election, which saw election bets push fees to notable heights.
The tariff announcement is expected to drive economic chaos with traders flooding markets like “US recession in 2025?” or “Will the NYSE hit a circuit-breaker?”—both of which saw sharp probability shifts on Polymarket.
An increased amount of trades equates to more USDC flowing into the platform, pumping the fee totals tracked by DeFiLlama, even if Polymarket has stated that it doesn’t pocket them directly.
Another rationale for the spike is a change in Polymarket’s operations—for example, a change in its fee structure. However, the platform claims it has not changed its fee structure in a significant way that introduces trading, deposit, or withdrawal fees as a primary revenue model.
Polymarket has always operated with a no-fee model. Its official documentation and statements from CEO Shayne Coplan highlight the platform’s focus on growth over monetization, so while it may charge fees in the future, there is no timeline of when they may be implemented yet.
The platform has, in the past, generated revenue indirectly through spreads on trading and liquidity provision rather than directly imposing fees on users.
Even though Polymarket saw a huge spike in income, according to DefiLlama, it still falls behind Tether with its cumulative revenue. Tether’s rival, Circle took the final top-three spot in terms of cumulative fees and revenue.
Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC) are stablecoin issuers whose incomes are linked mainly to the interest earned on the reserves backing their stablecoins, even though some additional revenue comes from redemption or issuance fees.
Both companies operate identical business models, and their primary revenue comes from investing their reserves in interest-bearing instruments, such as US Treasury bills, which have yielded 3.5%-5% annually in recent years thanks to elevated interest rates.
Nevertheless, data shows that Tether makes more profit than Circle, with recent estimates suggesting the USDT issuer earned over $18 million in revenue in the last 24 hours, while Circle reported $6.35 million. This is even though USDT’s circulating supply is only about 2.3 times greater than USDC’s. In fact, on a per-unit basis, Tether reportedly generates roughly 20 times more profit per stablecoin than Circle.
Another reason for this huge difference could be Tether’s affinity for taking on riskier or higher-yield investments. Meanwhile, Circle, regulated as it is, has said its reserves are held in safe assets like Treasuries and cash, which yield a predictable but modest return.
Tether is less transparent about its reserves only listing “secured loans” and other non-transparent assets which suggests it could be chasing higher returns not minding the added risk.
There is also the fact that Circle is at a structural disadvantage because of its inability to keep more of its revenue in-house. This is because of its deal with Coinbase, which gives it a cut of USDC’s economics, diluting Circle’s per-unit profit.
Tether has no such major partner and retains full control over its issuance and redemption process, which allows it to keep more of its revenue in-house. It also charges a 0.1% redemption fee for converting USDT back to fiat, providing a small but steady revenue stream, especially with high-volume users.
Circle, on the other hand, offers users fee-free redemptions, leading to what has been tagged “vampire attacks,” an arbitrage process where users swap USDT for USDC to cash out cheaper.
Overall, Tether has more market dominance than Circle, which allows its reserves to grow faster, thereby compounding interest earnings.
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Japanese gaming firm Enish makes first BTC purchase worth nearly $680k
Enish Co., the Japanese gaming firm behind blockchain-based game series ‘De:Lithe Last Memories,’ has announced its first BTC purchase worth 100 million yen.
According to a recently published document , Enish Co. stated that it would allocate 100 million yen or equal to $679,049 of company funds to buy Bitcoin ( BTC ). The Japanese firm stated that the purchase would be completed by April 4.
According to the notice, Enish’s recent BTC purchase is part of its latest financial strategy. The firm also aims to diversify its financial assets while also taking advantage of the liquidity and stability of Bitcoin, including the opportunity to generate profits from future price increases.
The Japanese gaming firm said it would start conducting quarterly reviews on its BTC investments and promised to include any unrealized gains or losses in its financial reports.
At press time, Bitcoin has gone down by 1.3% in the past 24 hours. BTC is currently trading hands at $83,242. The recent dip in BTC prices could be a reason why Enish decided to make the purchase while prices are lower than usual. In the past week, BTC has gone down by 4.66%.
It has yet to recover from its slump, with its highest price staying slightly below the $90k threshold at only $87,791, according to data from crypto.news.
Moreover, the company aims to “deepen our understanding of blockchain technology” through purchasing cryptocurrency as a way to strengthen the firm’s technical capabilities in creating more web3 -based games.
Enish Co., is known for producing mobile games such as “De:Lithe – The King of Oblivion and Angel of the Covenant.” One of its latest releases in the De:Lithe series is a blockchain-based game called “De:Lithe Last Memories.”
Launched on July 25, 2024, “De:Lithe Last Memories” is described on its site as a Free to Play mobile game where players can earn tokens and purchase NFTs . Rewards are distributed through a reward pool as more tokens are consumed or as sales increase.
Most of the game’s revenue comes from ads and in-app purchases, which lessens the burden on tokens and NFTs themselves. The game’s token, xGEEK is designed to be a fixed price token, valued at $1.00 per 100 xGEEK tokens.
Japanese gaming companies have been branching into web3 through the creation of mobile blockchain games. Most recently, Japanese messaging app LINE teamed up with Sony’s Soneium blockchain to release four blockchain-based mini app games. Players can earn points in the games that they can carry over to the main app.