Curve Finance makes a strong comeback: Ethereum DEX trading fee share soars to 44%, driven by real demand rise.

Curve Finance is once again becoming the core of the Ethereum DeFi ecosystem, but this time not relying on market speculation, but rather stemming from genuine and sustained on-chain trading demand. Recent data shows that Curve has established a significant position in Ethereum DEX trading activity, with a notable increase in transaction fee contributions, highlighting its infrastructural value in stablecoin and mainstream asset trading.

According to DeFiLlama data, the trading fee ratio of Curve DAO has risen to 6.54%, setting a historical high. More notably, in the past 30 days, Curve accounted for about 44% of the total trading fees on Ethereum DEX, a significant increase from approximately 1.6% a year ago, indicating a clear shift in user behavior.

In the highly competitive DeFi market of Ethereum, transaction fees are often seen as a key indicator of “real usage rate.” Unlike the short cycle and high volatility of meme coin trading, Curve primarily caters to high-frequency, low-slippage trading demands for stablecoins, Ether, and Wrapped BTC. Data shows that Curve generated approximately $15.1 million in transaction fees over the past 30 days, ranking just behind Uniswap, but its trading structure is more concentrated and stable, highlighting its appeal among professional funds and institutional traders.

This growth reflects more the increase in protocol usage rather than a direct increase in income for the DAO or liquidity providers. Although transaction fees are not entirely equivalent to distributed earnings, they clearly indicate that the market's dependence on Curve liquidity pools is strengthening.

From the perspective of specific driving factors, the rapid amplification of crvUSD trading volume has become one of the key drivers, making it the most active trading source on Curve. At the same time, with the integration with Yield Basis, Curve has evolved into one of the platforms with the deepest on-chain Bitcoin liquidity in the DeFi space. Currently, its three main Bitcoin liquidity pools rank among the top in terms of liquidity depth and TVL metrics.

At the governance level, the activity of Curve DAO has also increased. Recently, the community vetoed a proposal to allocate approximately 17.4 million CRV (worth about 6.2 million USD) to the DEX development team and pushed for a revised proposal to be resubmitted. In addition, several proposals concerning liquidity metrics for the liquidity pools and incentive mechanisms are still under discussion, indicating that the ecosystem is continuously evolving.

With the advancement of Curve's deployment on networks like X Layer and Plasma, as well as the rising usage of crvUSD, Curve is further solidifying its position as a foundational protocol for stablecoin swaps and yield strategies. Overall, data indicates that users are gradually returning to prioritize stable returns, transparent mechanisms, and deep liquidity in DeFi protocols, with Curve being one of the biggest beneficiaries of this trend.