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Pendle — On-Chain Yield Trading & Revenue Deep Dive
Pendle is the leading on-chain yield trading protocol, enabling users to tokenize and trade future yield via Principal Tokens (PT) and Yield Tokens (YT). The protocol generates revenue through two primary streams: a 5% fee on yield accrued by YTs and 80% of all AMM swap fees. In September 2025, Pendle replaced vePENDLE with sPENDLE — a liquid governance token — and now conducts PENDLE buybacks using up to 80% of protocol revenue. The Boros expansion adds a third stream via funding-rate derivatives. 2025 full-year fees totaled $44.6M (+134% YoY). Annualized earnings sit at ~$11M with a forward P/E estimated below 20.
📊 Revenue Streams
Pendle's fee model has two levers: (1) YT Yield Fees — 5% of all yield accrued on Yield Tokens, which scales with TVL × prevailing DeFi yields. At $5B TVL and 8% avg yield, this alone generates ~$20M/yr. (2) AMM Trading Fees — 80% of swap fees from yield speculation, with 20% to LPs. A third stream via Boros (funding-rate derivatives) is in early operations with ~$730K annualized revenue. Revenue split: 80% flows to sPENDLE holders, 10% to Protocol Treasury, 10% to Protocol Operations.
💰 Earnings & Income Statement
Pendle's Earnings = protocol-retained revenue after distributing 80% to sPENDLE holders. With ~$11.35M annualized earnings and a market cap implying P/E below 20, Pendle stands out as one of DeFi's more attractively valued earnings-generating protocols. For context, Pendle generated $12.93M revenue in Q1 2025 alone at peak activity — Q2 2026 YTD of $3.34M suggests revenue has moderated from highs but the protocol remains solidly profitable. Analysts project a bull-case $97M revenue by end-2026 if TVL reaches $9.3B.
🪙 Token Valuation — P/F & P/S Ratios
Price-to-Fees (P/F) and Price-to-Revenue (P/S) ratios place Pendle's market cap relative to its protocol cash flows. GLC Research estimates a P/E of 16–20x at current prices — low for a protocol with DeFi-leading yield infrastructure, multi-chain expansion, and a new Boros product in early monetization. Team/investor vesting completed in September 2024, removing a key overhang. The sPENDLE buyback program (up to 80% of revenue) directly links protocol success to token value.
📈 TVL — The Revenue Engine
TVL is Pendle's primary revenue driver: higher TVL × higher DeFi yields = more YT yield fees. TVL peaked at ~$13.4B in 2025 and averaged $5.7B (+76% YoY). The protocol expanded to 12 chains including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain, Berachain, Sonic, and Hyperliquid. Current TVL ~$3.5B reflects a moderation from the 2025 peak. Key insight: Pendle's monetization rate (~90–100 bps on TVL) is lower than lending protocols, but yield tokenization creates natural recurring demand as market positions roll at expiry.
🔓 Token Supply & Emission Schedule
Team and investor vesting completed by September 2024 — a critical de-risk milestone. ~164.86M PENDLE in circulation, ~67.68M locked (transitioning from vePENDLE → sPENDLE). Remaining emissions are incentive-driven to LPs. With a buyback mechanism consuming up to 80% of protocol revenue and reduced vesting sell pressure, the supply/demand dynamic is structurally improving. The sPENDLE model lowers the participation barrier vs. vePENDLE, potentially broadening the buyback distribution base.
🏆 Competitive Context: Yield Protocol Landscape
Pendle has no direct peer at scale in on-chain interest rate derivatives. The broader yield category includes aggregators (Yearn, Convex) and restaking vaults, but Pendle's fixed-income model is structurally distinct. The chart below shows Pendle's TVL vs. yield category peers — Pendle accounts for an outsized share of category TVL, reflecting its dominant position in a nascent but growing vertical. Boros positions Pendle to capture institutional funding-rate flows, a much larger addressable market.
📋 DeFi Earnings Leaderboard
Where does Pendle rank among all DeFi protocols by earnings (protocol-retained revenue after holder distributions)? The table below shows the full universe sorted by earnings.