Protocol Revenue Yield Calculator
Solve the protocol revenue yield identity Yield = ( Revenue ÷ Market Cap ) × 100 for any of its three unknowns — the revenue yield, the annual protocol revenue, or the market capitalisation — with step-by-step math, a live yield-band gauge, P/S and FDV-based yield analysis, an annualisation helper, and target-yield reverse solving.
Set the period to 1 for daily revenue, 7 for weekly, 30 for monthly, or 365 if the figure is already annual. Annualised revenue = revenue × 365 ÷ days. Click Apply to load the annualised figure into the revenue field above.
P/S = market cap ÷ revenue = 100 ÷ yield. A 4% yield is a 25× P/S. Comparing the market-cap yield against the FDV-based yield exposes dilution: a token with a 4% yield on market cap but a 1.5% yield on FDV is 62% locked, and the yield will fall as supply unlocks unless revenue grows faster than emissions.
Required revenue = target yield ÷ 100 × market cap. The growth multiple compares this against the revenue you entered, so you can see at a glance how much the protocol would have to grow — or how far the market cap would have to fall — to reach the target. Neither is a prediction; it is a benchmark for how demanding the valuation is.
Yield is the inverse of price-to-sales
The revenue yield and the P/S ratio are the same fact stated two ways. A 4% yield is a 25× P/S. A 1% yield is a 100× P/S. A 20% yield is a 5× P/S. Because they are reciprocals, they rank projects in exactly the same order — the choice of which to quote is a matter of taste. Yield is more intuitive for income-oriented investors because it looks like a dividend yield; P/S is more common in equity analysis because it reads as a multiple. Whichever you use, the underlying comparison is identical: how many dollars of market value is the market paying for each dollar of annual protocol revenue?
Protocol revenue is not total fees
This is the single most common error in DeFi fundamental analysis. On a decentralised exchange, most of the swap fee goes to liquidity providers — the protocol keeps only a small cut, or in some cases nothing at all. On a lending market, the reserve factor determines how much of the borrow interest the protocol retains versus how much flows to depositors. A protocol with $1B of annual fees and a 5% take rate has $50M of revenue, not $1B. Comparing total fees across protocols and calling it revenue massively overstates the cheap ones. Always check the take rate before drawing conclusions.
FDV-based yield exposes dilution
Market-cap yield uses the tokens that exist today. FDV-based yield uses every token that will ever exist. For a fully unlocked protocol the two are identical. For a token that is 20% float, the FDV yield is one-fifth of the market-cap yield — and as tokens unlock, either revenue must grow five-fold or the market-cap yield must converge down toward the FDV yield. Comparing the two numbers side by side is the fastest way to see whether a high yield is real or an artefact of a low float. A 20% market-cap yield with a 4% FDV yield is not a cheap protocol; it is a thin float priced for perfection.
High yield is often a warning, not a bargain
If a protocol genuinely produced a durable 40% annual revenue yield, capital would flood in until the yield compressed to something ordinary. A very high yield therefore usually means one of four things: the market believes the revenue is temporary, the revenue is being manufactured by the protocol's own emissions, the revenue accrues to someone other than the token holder, or the token is not freely tradable at the quoted price. Occasionally a high yield is real and the market is simply wrong — but that is the exception, and the burden of proof is on the buyer. Read the yield as a question the market is asking, not an answer it has given.
How to Use This Calculator
The revenue yield relation links three quantities: the yield, the annual protocol revenue, and the market capitalisation. Pick which one you want the tool to solve, then fill in the other two.
1. Choose what to solve for
Pick Yield, Revenue, or Market Cap from the toggle. The calculator rearranges Yield = ( Revenue ÷ Market Cap ) × 100 automatically for whichever variable you choose and greys out that field.
2. Get protocol revenue right
Use the revenue the protocol itself captures — the treasury cut, the buyback-and-burn fees, the reserve factor. Not total fees paid by users, not TVL, not volume. If you have daily or monthly revenue, use the annualisation helper to scale it to a year before entering it.
3. Enter circulating market cap
Use circulating market cap, not FDV. The FDV-based yield is computed separately in the helper, so you get both numbers without having to re-enter anything.
4. Read the gauge and chips
The result card places the yield on a log-scale band from 0.1% to 100%, with three chips showing the P/S ratio, the FDV-based yield, and the MC/FDV float ratio — the three numbers that tell you whether the yield is real.
5. Check the target yield helper
Enter the yield you would want in order to be interested, and the helper tells you the revenue the protocol would need to produce it and the growth multiple that implies against current revenue. It is a fast reality check on how demanding the valuation is.
6. Switch to Advanced for depth
Advanced mode adds a yield-vs-market-cap chart, a sensitivity check on ±1% input changes, and companion metrics including revenue per day, market cap per dollar of revenue, the yield at five reference market caps, and the market cap implied by several benchmark yields.
What This Tool Offers
Built around the protocol revenue yield identity Yield = ( Revenue ÷ Market Cap ) × 100, the fundamental valuation test for any fee-generating protocol.
Three-way solving
Solve for the revenue yield, the annual protocol revenue, or the market capitalisation. The calculator rearranges the formula for whichever variable you choose.
Annualisation helper
Enter revenue for a day, a week, a month, or any period and get the annualised figure, the annualised yield, and the implied P/S — with one click to load it into the calculator.
P/S and FDV yield
Enter the fully diluted valuation to see the yield on FDV and the P/S on both market cap and FDV, exposing how much of the yield depends on a thin float.
Target yield reverse-solve
Enter the yield you would need to be interested and see the revenue required, the daily equivalent, and the growth multiple against current revenue.
Dual comparison charts
Yield vs. revenue for three market-cap levels, plus an advanced yield-vs-market-cap chart for three revenue levels.
Reference tables
A live yield converter, a yield lookup grid across revenue and market cap, a benchmark yield band table by protocol type, and a full variable reference.
Reference Tables & Conversions
A live yield converter, a yield lookup grid, and benchmark yield bands by protocol type.
Revenue · market cap · yield converter
Yield Lookup — Revenue ÷ Market Cap
Computed from Yield = ( Revenue ÷ Market Cap ) × 100. Each cell shows the annual revenue yield for a given revenue and market cap.
| Revenue / yr | MC $10M | MC $50M | MC $250M | MC $1B | MC $10B | MC $100B |
|---|
Benchmark Yield Bands by Protocol Type
Indicative ranges only. Yields vary widely with market conditions, token unlocks, and where the protocol is in its growth cycle. Compare within a category rather than across categories.
| Yield band | Implied P/S | Typical reading | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 0.5% | 200× + | Speculative premium | Market is pricing growth far above current revenue, or revenue accrues elsewhere |
| 0.5% – 2% | 50× – 200× | Growth-stage pricing | Common for young protocols with strong narratives and low current revenue |
| 2% – 5% | 20× – 50× | Established, moderate | Typical for large protocols with durable fee streams and modest growth expectations |
| 5% – 10% | 10× – 20× | Attractive if durable | Either a genuinely cheap protocol or one the market expects to shrink |
| 10% – 20% | 5× – 10× | High — verify durability | Often emission-funded or cyclical; check the take rate and where revenue goes |
| 20% – 50% | 2× – 5× | Very high — usually a warning | Revenue is likely temporary, declining, or not accruing to token holders |
| Over 50% | Under 2× | Extreme — almost always suspect | Check for stale data, misclassified revenue, or a market cap that has already collapsed |
Variable Reference
| Symbol | Meaning | Typical range | Units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yield | Annual revenue yield | 0.01 – 200 | % per year |
| Revenue | Annual protocol revenue | 10³ – 10⁹ | USD / yr |
| Market Cap | Circulating market cap | 10⁵ – 10¹¹ | USD |
| P/S | Price-to-sales (inverse of yield) | 0.5 – 500 | × |
| FDV | Fully diluted valuation | ≥ Market Cap | USD |
| FDV Yield | Revenue ÷ FDV × 100 | ≤ Yield | % per year |
| MC/FDV | Float ratio | 1 – 100 | % |
What Does Yield = ( Revenue ÷ Market Cap ) × 100 Measure?
Revenue yield is the fundamental valuation test for a fee-generating protocol. It asks a single question: for every dollar the market is currently paying for this network, how many dollars of protocol revenue does it produce in a year? A 4% yield means the market is paying $25 for each $1 of annual revenue. A 10% yield means $10. A 1% yield means $100. The number is simple; interpreting it is not, because the revenue has to be real, durable, and actually accruing to whoever holds the token.
Protocol Revenue Yield Formula
The defining relationship is:
Rearranged to solve for the other two unknowns:
Market Cap = Revenue ÷ ( Yield ÷ 100 )
Because yield and the price-to-sales ratio are reciprocals, either can be derived from the other:
Yield = 100 ÷ P/S
The FDV-based yield uses the same formula with the fully diluted valuation in the denominator:
And the ratio between the two yields is exactly the float ratio:
The revenue needed to hit a target yield is the inverse of the main formula:
Revenue Yield Variables
| Symbol | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Yield | Annual revenue yield | Inverse of P/S; higher means cheaper, but see the caveats |
| Revenue | Annual protocol revenue | The protocol's own cut, not total user fees |
| Market Cap | Circulating market cap | Circulating supply × price; not FDV |
| P/S | Price-to-sales | 100 ÷ Yield; reads as a multiple |
| FDV | Fully diluted valuation | Max supply × price; exposes dilution |
| MC/FDV | Float ratio | FDV Yield ÷ Market-Cap Yield |
How Each Variable Affects the Yield
Yield is directly proportional to revenue and inversely proportional to market cap. Double the revenue and the yield doubles at the same market cap. Double the market cap and the yield halves at the same revenue. That inverse relationship is why a falling token price mechanically raises the yield: the revenue stays the same, the denominator shrinks, and the yield rises. A yield that looks attractive after a 60% drawdown may not reflect any improvement in the business at all — it may simply reflect the market repricing the same revenue stream at a much lower value.
The revenue number is where most analysis goes wrong. Total fees paid by users, total value locked, and total volume are all different from protocol revenue, and they are usually much larger. A DEX with $1 billion in annual fees and a 10% take rate has $100 million in protocol revenue — a tenth of the headline number. A lending market with a 20% reserve factor keeps a fifth of the interest paid by borrowers. A perp exchange that routes all fees to a buyback-and-burn has revenue even if the treasury receives nothing directly, because the value accrues to holders through reduced supply. Getting this right is the difference between a 1% yield and a 10% yield on the same protocol.
The float ratio is the third variable that shapes the comparison. Market-cap yield and FDV yield are the same calculation with different supply bases. When the float is 20%, the FDV yield is one-fifth of the market-cap yield. As tokens unlock, either the market cap must fall so the two yields converge, or revenue must grow fast enough to hold the FDV yield steady. This is why comparing a low-float token against a fully circulated one using market-cap yield alone is misleading: the low-float token appears cheaper than it is, because four-fifths of its future supply is not yet in the denominator.
Revenue Yield Calculation Examples
Yield = ( 10,000,000 ÷ 250,000,000 ) × 100 = 4.0000%
P/S = 100 ÷ 4 = 25.00×
Revenue = 250,000,000 × 4 ÷ 100 = $10,000,000/yr ($27,397/day)
Market Cap = 10,000,000 ÷ 0.04 = $250,000,000
FDV Yield = ( 10,000,000 ÷ 625,000,000 ) × 100 = 1.6000%
MC/FDV = 250 ÷ 625 = 40.0% float
P/S on FDV = 100 ÷ 1.6 = 62.50×
Required = 250,000,000 × 8 ÷ 100 = $20,000,000/yr ($54,795/day)
Growth multiple = 20 ÷ 10 = 2.00× current revenue
Frequently Asked Questions
There is no single answer, because the right yield depends on growth, durability, and where the revenue goes. As a rough frame: under 1% is a growth-stage valuation where the market is paying for revenue that does not exist yet. 2% to 5% is the normal range for large, established protocols with durable fee streams. 5% to 10% is attractive if the revenue is genuinely durable. Above 10% the burden of proof shifts sharply — the market is usually pricing in a decline, a temporary spike, or a mismatch between the revenue and the token. Compare within a category rather than across categories, and always check the FDV-based yield alongside the market-cap yield.
Total fees are what users pay. Protocol revenue is what the protocol itself keeps. The gap between them is the take rate, and it varies enormously. On a Uniswap v2 pool, essentially all of the 0.30% swap fee goes to liquidity providers and the protocol keeps nothing. On Uniswap v3 with the protocol fee switched on, the protocol takes a fraction of LP fees. On a lending market, the reserve factor determines how much of borrower interest is retained by the protocol versus passed to depositors. On a perp DEX, the trading fee may go to a treasury, to buybacks, or to a staking contract. Before you compute a yield, find out what fraction of the headline fee number actually accrues to the protocol or its token holders.
Because yield is a ratio, and a collapsing numerator or denominator can push it up without anything good happening. If revenue is falling because users are leaving, the yield falls — but if the token price falls faster than revenue, the yield rises even though the business is shrinking. Conversely, a yield can spike because a one-off event inflated revenue for a quarter, or because the protocol is paying out emissions that get counted as revenue on some dashboards. A genuine 30% yield would attract capital until it compressed, so an unusually high reading is usually the market telling you it does not believe the revenue is repeatable. Sometimes the market is wrong, but that is the exception.
Both, and the comparison between them is more informative than either alone. Market-cap yield tells you what the market is paying for the tokens that exist today. FDV yield tells you what it would be paying if every token were already unlocked. For a fully circulated protocol the two are identical. For a token that is 20% float, the FDV yield is one-fifth of the market-cap yield — and the market-cap yield will converge toward the FDV yield as supply unlocks, unless revenue grows. A protocol showing a 15% market-cap yield and a 3% FDV yield is not cheap; it is thinly floated and priced for a great deal of future growth.
They change where the value goes, not the yield itself. If a protocol uses revenue to buy its own token on the open market and burn it, the revenue is real and the yield calculation is unchanged — but the benefit to holders arrives through a shrinking supply rather than a dividend. Some dashboards report "revenue" only when cash hits the treasury, which understates protocols that route fees directly to buybacks. Others count the buyback amount as revenue even if it came from token emissions rather than actual fees. The right question is always: is this revenue from external users paying for a service, or is it the protocol paying itself with newly minted tokens? Only the first is real.
Usually not, and this is one of the most common sources of inflated yields. Staking rewards on a proof-of-stake L1 are typically new token issuance, not revenue. Paying 5% staking yield funded by 5% annual inflation transfers value from non-stakers to stakers; it does not represent external income. The same applies to liquidity mining programs, where the protocol distributes its own tokens to attract deposits. That is a cost, not revenue. Real protocol revenue comes from users paying fees for a service — swaps, borrows, perp trades, liquidations, MEV capture, or similar — and it is denominated in assets that are not the protocol's own token.
They are not directly comparable, though the intuition transfers. A dividend yield is cash actually distributed to shareholders divided by market cap. A revenue yield is total protocol income divided by market cap, before any decision about how to use it. A company with a 4% revenue yield might pay a 1% dividend and reinvest the rest; a protocol with a 4% revenue yield might buy back 4% of its supply, or hold it all in the treasury, or distribute none of it. The revenue yield is closer to an earnings yield than a dividend yield, and it is a ceiling on what could be distributed rather than a promise of what will be. That distinction matters most for protocols that accumulate revenue without any mechanism to pass it to holders.
Variables
| Symbol | Quantity | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue Yield | Protocol revenue yield | % |
| Annualized Protocol Revenue | Protocol's annualized revenue | currency |
| Market Cap | Protocol token's market capitalization | currency |
What it means
Revenue yield is similar to dividend yield for stocks. It measures the income generated by a protocol relative to its valuation. This is used to evaluate the income‑generating potential of DeFi protocols. Understanding this helps investors find high‑yield opportunities and to assess the sustainability of a protocol’s economics.
Worked example
Protocol Revenue Yield – Two Detailed Examples
Real‑World| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Annualized Revenue | $50,000,000 |
| Market Cap | $2,000,000,000 |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Revenue | $20,000,000 |
| Cap | $100,000,000 |
Common mistakes
- Revenue yield: Annualised protocol revenue divided by market cap.
- Protocol revenue: The total fees collected by the protocol.
- Yield: The percentage return based on revenue.
- Compare to staking yields: High revenue yield may attract investors.
Applications
Protocol revenue yield is the annual protocol revenue divided by market cap, expressed as a percentage. This is similar to the earnings yield in equities. Investors use it to assess the return on investment based on protocol earnings. A higher yield suggests better value. Understanding revenue yield helps in evaluating DeFi protocols.
- Assessing the return potential of a protocol based on revenue
- Comparing protocols by revenue yield
- Identifying attractive investment opportunities
- Fundamental analysis for DeFi assets
- Educational understanding of earnings yield
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