A cross-chain comparison of four landmark DEX protocols since 2022 — spanning Ethereum, Base, and Solana — across volume, fees, revenue, and market share.

**Uniswap** commands 23.5% of all DEX volume ($42.2B 30d) with $50.4M in fees, firmly the largest spot DEX by volume. **Aerodrome** has rapidly become the dominant exchange on Base with $17B 30d volume (9.5% DEX share) despite operating on a single chain since August 2023. **Curve Finance** has pivoted toward a lending+stablecoin-AMM hybrid — its 30d DEX volume stands at $3.7B (2% DEX share), but fees surged +98% MoM, reflecting crvUSD lending activity and a recovery in stablecoin pair demand. **Jupiter** (Solana) reports $947M in spot DEX volume, but functions primarily as an aggregator routing across Solana's entire liquidity; its $17M in 30d fees — on a fraction of Uniswap's volume — reflects its platform-fee model on top of underlying swap fees.

> 📍 **Key macro context:** DEX-to-CEX spot ratio reached 21.2% by late 2025, up from 6% in 2021. Solana DEX volume briefly overtook Ethereum in Jan 2026. Aerodrome's parent Dromos Labs is preparing an Ethereum mainnet launch to directly challenge Uniswap and Curve. [1][5]

DeFi20 Spot DEXs: Uniswap · Curve · Aerodrome · Jupiter

TVL measures liquidity depth — the capital LPs have committed to each protocol. Uniswap leads at $3.1B TVL despite V4's CLMM efficiency compressing required capital. Curve's $1.4B TVL is heavily stablecoin-denominated (low impermanent loss risk). Jupiter's $1.3B TVL reflects its JLP perpetuals pool, which also backs spot liquidity. Aerodrome's $318M TVL is compact relative to its volume — its veAERO emission model concentrates incentivized liquidity into the highest-volume pairs.

🔒 TVL & Liquidity

TVL Comparison (Monthly)

Uniswap's multi-chain expansion and v3/v4 CLMM upgrades drove a compounding lead over the field. Aerodrome's explosive 2023–2025 growth on Base highlights how chain-native DEXs can dominate their home ecosystem. Curve's absolute volume has declined from 2022 peaks as concentrated liquidity (CLMM) venues absorbed stablecoin flow. Jupiter's DEX-native volume reflects only its JLP pools — its aggregator routing volume is significantly larger.

📊 Volume Trends Since 2022

DEX Volume Comparison (Monthly)

Global DEX Volume Market Share (All Chains)

Global DEX Aggregator Volume Market Share % (All Chains)

Each protocol dominates its home chain. Uniswap and Curve compete on Ethereum mainnet, Aerodrome is the leading DEX on Base, and Jupiter commands the Solana aggregator market. Q1 2026 chain-level DEX volumes (per TradeAlgo): Ethereum $218B, Solana $204B, Base $142B — Base's emergence as a DEX hub is largely Aerodrome-driven. [2]

🌐 Ecosystem Volume Share

Ethereum DEX Volume — Uniswap & Curve Home Turf

Base DEX Volume — Aerodrome's Domain

Ethereum DEX Volume Market Share %

Solana DEX Aggregator Volume

Base DEX Volume Market Share %

Solana DEX Aggregator Volume Market Share %

Uniswap accrues fees to LPs (supply-side revenue); its protocol revenue is minimal (~10% of fees via governance-controlled fee switch). Aerodrome distributes fees to veAERO voters — a vote-escrow model that concentrates governance value to stakers. Curve distributes fees to veCRV holders. Jupiter retains a higher share of fees as protocol revenue (~28%) reflecting its aggregator model. The fee rate per unit of volume tells the real story: Jupiter earns ~1.8% in fees-to-volume vs Uniswap's ~0.12%.

💸 Fees Comparison Since 2022

Total Fees Comparison (Monthly)

Global DEX Fees Market Share %

Global DEX Aggregator Fees Market Share %

Drilling into each protocol's home chain reveals true competitive dominance across the fee landscape:

**Ethereum (Uniswap & Curve):** Uniswap's CLMM pools have progressively captured Ethereum DEX fee share from Curve — from rough parity in 2022 to Uniswap commanding 50–65%+ of Ethereum DEX fees by 2025–2026. Curve's share has compressed as its StableSwap moat eroded against Uniswap's 0.01% fee tier. Uniswap v4's hook architecture and singleton contract further consolidate its Ethereum fee dominance.

**Base (Aerodrome):** Aerodrome's dominance on Base in fees is near-total — capturing 70–80%+ of Base DEX fees since mid-2023. Its veAERO emission model funnels LP incentives to the highest-volume pools, creating a self-reinforcing flywheel: more fees → more veAERO demand → better emissions allocation → deeper liquidity → more fees.

**Solana (Jupiter):** Jupiter's fee share on Solana reflects its aggregator positioning — it captures fees on routed swaps layered atop underlying venues (Orca, Raydium, Lifinity). As Solana DEX volume consolidates through Jupiter's interface, its fee capture competes with and increasingly exceeds standalone DEX venues on the chain.

🌐 Fees Market Share by Ecosystem

Ethereum DEX Fees Market Share %

Base DEX Fees Market Share %

Solana DEX Aggregator Fees Market Share %

Protocol revenue (what the DAO/treasury actually keeps) reveals divergent business models. Uniswap's revenue is nascent — the fee switch was only partially enabled in 2024 and allocates ~10% of fees to governance/treasury. Aerodrome's revenue matches Uniswap's ($4.9M 30d) despite 60% less volume, reflecting its higher LP fee retention. Curve keeps ~16% of fees as protocol revenue. Jupiter is the most efficient revenue capturer at ~28% fee-to-revenue conversion.

💰 Protocol Revenue Since 2022

Protocol Revenue Comparison (Monthly)

Holder Revenue — Token Staker & veModel Returns (Monthly)

Global DEX Revenue Market Share %

Global DEX Aggregator Revenue Market Share %

Full financial breakdown — gross revenue, costs (incentives/emissions), and earnings — for each protocol. Aerodrome and Curve's ve-model means a significant share of fees flow to token stakers rather than a treasury. Uniswap's income statement reflects the early stage of its fee switch activation. Jupiter's income statement highlights its multi-product revenue stack (aggregator, perps, lending).

🧾 Protocol Income Statements

Full DEX protocol rankings — sorted by 7-day volume. Use this to contextualize where Uniswap, Aerodrome, Curve, and Jupiter sit within the broader spot DEX competitive set, and track market share shifts in real time.

📋 DEX Landscape Rankings

The risk curator model—pioneered by Morpho Blue—created an entirely new category of DeFi participant. By separating lending infrastructure from risk management, Morpho enabled specialized firms to compete for depositor AUM across curated vaults. The sector grew from ~$181M in June 2024 to over $10B at peak—a 55x expansion in under 18 months. Today, Morpho and its curator ecosystem operate as co-dependent engines: Morpho's multi-chain expansion powers curator AUM, while curators' institutional credibility drives deposits back into Morpho vaults.

**🚀 June 2026:** Morpho closed a **$175M raise led by a16z Crypto & Paradigm** — validating the curator-as-infrastructure thesis. This week, **Zama + Morpho + Steakhouse** launched the first confidential USDC yield vault on Ethereum, extending the institutional-grade DeFi playbook further.

Morpho's Influence on the Risk Curator Sector

Morpho and its curator ecosystem have grown in tandem—but the curator sector has emerged as a distinct, parallel capital stack. Starting from near-zero in mid-2024, curator AUM briefly exceeded Morpho's own TVL at peak before both markets corrected. The chart below illustrates how tightly linked these two ecosystems have become—and why Morpho's continued chain expansion is the single most important driver for the curator sector's next leg of growth.

TVL Race: Morpho vs The Sector It Created

Morpho TVL vs Risk Curator Sector TVL

Market structure is rapidly consolidating. **Steakhouse ($2.12B, +192% YoY)**, **Sentora ($2.0B, +27% 30d)**, and **Gauntlet ($1.47B, +119% YoY)** now dominate the sector. Steakhouse holds a ~$1B AUM lead over second place—a gap that barely existed 12 months ago. The stacked chart reveals Sentora's explosive emergence in 2025 as a new top-tier player, while early leaders like MEV Capital (-91% YoY) and Block Analitica (-42% YoY) ceded share to institutional newcomers with deeper distribution channels.

Curator Concentration: Three Firms Control 73% of AUM

Top 8 Risk Curator TVL Growth (18 Months, Stacked)

Current Curator TVL Rankings

Curator Annualized Revenue (Net Income Proxy)

Each top curator has a distinct playbook: **Steakhouse** built on institutional RWA across 48 vaults with deep MakerDAO/Sky integration. **Sentora** scaled fast in 2025 targeting institutional allocators. **Gauntlet** applies algorithmic risk optimization with a low-fee, high-volume strategy. **MEV Capital** leveraged active MEV strategies for premium fees but shed TVL sharply (-91% YoY). **K3 Capital** (+25% YoY) and **RE7 Labs** (-81% YoY) show the extremes of curator growth divergence—incumbents with legacy positioning losing out to well-capitalized institutional challengers.

Individual Curator TVL: Six Distinct Growth Trajectories

Revenue economics vary sharply across curators. **Steakhouse** leads with ~$3.9M annualized revenue on $2.1B AUM (0.18% management yield). **Gauntlet** earns only ~$325K annualized on $1.47B AUM (0.02%)—reflecting their low-fee algorithmic approach. **MEV Capital** generates the highest fee-to-AUM ratio (~$3.1M annualized on $52.7M TVL, 5.9%)—premium rates for active MEV-integrated strategy despite major TVL loss. **Sentora** runs $41M annualized fees at scale, suggesting a highly scalable fee structure. Revenue trends and full income statements for the two largest curators follow.

Curator Net Income: Thin Margins, High Stakes

The curator sector's growth is inseparable from Morpho's multi-chain expansion. Base has been the biggest growth catalyst—rising from $604M to $2.8B—while Ethereum mainnet anchors at $7.5B+ combined. The chain TVL breakdown and borrowed distribution below reveal which deployments drive the most lending utilization and therefore curator fee generation. Morpho's income statement shows the protocol's own take above and below the curator layer.

Morpho Infrastructure: The Foundation Enabling Curator Growth

All 30 tracked risk curators ranked by TVL with revenue, fees, and growth metrics. Includes 30d, 90d, and 1Y TVL change for growth trend analysis alongside daily and 30d revenue figures.

IMD

DeFi20 Spot DEXs

Public dashboard library

Morpho's Influence on Risk Curator Sector

DeFi20 Lending