Uniswap and Aave Drive DeFi Fee Surge to $600M in September
DeFi applications saw a rise in fees, with September revenues hitting $600 million, up from $340 million in March.
Uniswap and Aave were key contributors to this revenue increase, along with Ethena.
Protocols are focusing on token design to return value to holders:
Uniswap plans a "fee switch" to direct a portion of trading revenue to [UNI](https://holder.io/coins//) holders with the upcoming v4 on Unichain.
Aave has implemented a policy to route surplus revenue into buybacks and ecosystem reserves, enhancing token performance linkage.
Ethena distributes fees as yield through its USDe and sUSDe system, boosting total value locked.
Ethena's integrations with Aave and Pendle contribute to its position as a top generator of distributable revenue.
The tokens of Uniswap ([UNI](https://holder.io/coins//)), Aave ([AAVE](https://holder.io/coins//)), and Ethena ([ENA](https://holder.io/coins//)) align with market trends but haven't outperformed yet.
Challenges remain regarding fee stability if volumes shift or treasury priorities dilute tokenholder distribution.
