Analysis: Ethereum's "sacrifice" of over 100 million dollars in subsidies for ecological expansion in 2025

According to CryptoSlate, the Ethereum network performed strongly in 2025, processing a record transaction volume and dominating the DeFi market (with a mainnet TVL share of 64%). However, the price of ETH fell by 10% over the year to below $3,000, decoupling from network activity. This was due to Ethereum actively reducing transaction fees through technical upgrades to promote the growth of L2 networks and the expansion of the entire ecosystem, resulting in a significant decline in mainnet revenue. Total L2 revenue in 2025 dropped by 53% to $129 million, but fees paid to the mainnet plummeted to just $10 million, with L2 operators retaining about $119 million in profit. This means that the Ethereum mainnet "sacrificed" over $100 million in potential revenue (a decrease of about $103 million compared to 2024) to subsidize ecosystem growth.