We’ve seen a boom of dApp creation over the past few years. Increasingly, dApp developers are looking for ways to monetize and establish a viable revenue model.
We’ve compiled a few top business models currently used among dApps to help you get started on a path to monetization and sustainability.
Transaction fees — a tried and true business model. Taking transaction fees on volume or usage of your dApp is an obvious choice.
Uniswap, an exchange, takes 30 basis points (bps) from each trade:
A small liquidity provider fee (0.3%) is taken out of each trade and added to the reserves. While the ETH-ERC20 reserve ratio is constantly shifting, fees makes sure that the total combined reserve size increases with every trade. — Uniswap docs
Beyond exchanges, transaction fee models work well for marketplaces. OpenSea, an NFT marketplace, makes it free to buy or list an item but takes 2.5% from the price of a successful sale.
Good for: Exchanges, DeFi, marketplaces
Currently used by: Uniswap, Kyber Network, OpenSea
Third party integrations into dApps are becoming more and more common. Instead of building from scratch, it’s quick and easy to integrate these services into your dApp.
Wyre, is frequently used as a fiat on-ramp for dApps. You can add a transaction fee on top of the one that Wyre charges. So, each time one of your users converts from USD to ETH, for example, your dApp receives a small percentage.
0x Instant offers something similar for so-called crypto on-ramps. You can earn a fee percentage on crypto to crypto exchanges passed through the 0x Instant widget embedded into your dApp.
Adding in a hypothetical 75 bps fee percentage on 0x Instant.
Good for: Wallets, dApps who utilize a fiat on-ramp, dApps who may not be able to monetize through other methods