Implement Fees on Pyth Core Across Networks

Background

In 2024, the Pyth DAO made a significant move by implementing oracle fees on opBNB at 0.000186 BNB ($0.13 at current prices). This initiative, spearheaded by KiloEx, marked the first instance of Pyth charging for oracle usage. Despite initial concerns about the cost, adoption has been encouraging:

• Approximately 45,000 transactions have been processed (primarily from APX and MYX)
• Generated revenue: 8.5 BNB (approximately $6,000) for the Pyth DAO

Proposal Overview

Building on this successful experiment, I propose that the Pyth DAO begin implementing fees for Pyth Core Price Feeds across its ~100 deployed blockchains. This implementation should be gradual and carefully managed to minimize any potential impact on adoption and builder activity.

Strategic Benefits

Implementing fees enables Pyth’s economic model through:

1. Fee-based compensation for data publishers
2. Increased network attractiveness for new publishers, driving competition in uptime and data quality
3. Enhanced service quality through competitive data provision directly benefit Pyth data consumers

To note, the DAO has not approved any rewards distribution mechanisms at this stage.

Current Network Usage Analysis

Data as of January 17th, 2025, sourced from Dune Dashboard and internal data. Shown below are the monthly averages of price updates per chains.

Key Metrics Across EVM Networks

Chart from Google Docs2280×1410 84.2 KB

Implementation Strategy

Selection Criteria

The optimal fee implementation strategy should consider:

1. Market Competition: Chains with limited oracle alternatives present better opportunities for initial fee implementation
2. Economic Activity: Prioritize chains with lower TVL and derivatives volume
3. Usage Patterns: Consider the distribution of updates across protocols

Target Networks

Based on these criteria, we propose to start implementing fees on on the blockchains below:

• Aurora
• Avalanche
• Conflux
• Cronos
• Meter
• Ronin
• Sei
• Shimmer

Fee Structure Considerations

Three key factors influence fee determination:

1. Per-Feed Application: Fees apply to each price feed across the entire chain
2. Update Frequency: Charges occur per price feed update
3. Transaction Costs: Keep oracle fees as a reasonable percentage of total transaction costs, while recognizing that some chains have artificially low gas fees that don’t reflect true value

Proposed Fee Structure

Aurora

In 2024, there was on average 37,000 price updated every month ; and there’s about $1M in TVS by Pyth.

Checking onchain activity, a single (1) address is triggering price updates for 7 feeds on Aurora (0xf9D72FED253bF10924cb501f254eFf112B6Fa203). Transactions cost about 0.00002328641 ETH or $0.08 thus the current monthly cost to do 5,285 transactions (updating 37,000 price updates) is about $425.

—> Target a $0.01 in update fees per feed for the Aurora deployment

—> Set the update fee to 0.000003 ETH per feed

At current usage, this would bring $370 per month to the Pyth DAO

Avalanche

In 2024, there was on average 150,000 price updated every month ; and there’s about $1M in TVS by Pyth.

Checking onchain activity, two (2) recurrent users were found to update price feeds on Avalanche (0x7b51Dd3B546A9e4a2a894620eCa083af252C52Db and 0x66690f1D92B1F7E629EcE0ad238E3ecE82283725), with their respective transactions costing in between $0.01 and $0.05 to update 1 to 2 prices together.

—> Target a $0.01 in update fees per feed for the Avalanche deployment

—> Set the update fee to 0.00025 AVAX per feed

At current usage, this would bring $1,500 per month to the Pyth DAO

Conflux

In 2024, there was on average 14,000 price updated every month ; and there’s about $0.1M in TVS by Pyth.

Checking onchain activity, a single (1) address is triggering price updates for 6 feeds on Conflux (0xE2B01f896873B3D8971311A970b5E41a1CD74743). Transactions cost about 0.0089031 CFX or $0.0015 thus the current monthly cost to do 2,333 transactions (updating 14,000 price updates) is about $3.

—> Target a $0.015 in update fees per feed for the Conflux deployment

—> Set the update fee to 0.1 CFX per feed

At current usage, this would bring $210 per month to the Pyth DAO

Cronos

In 2024, there was on average 57,000 price updated every month ; and there’s about $10M in TVS by Pyth.

Checking onchain activity, a single (1) address is triggering price updates for 21 feeds on Cronos (0xf1111aD835eb6e66c7e6FC252486e03c792B0FDE). Transactions cost about 3**.**4524426 CRO or $0.50 thus the current monthly cost to do 2,714 transactions (updating 57,000 price updates) is about $1,350.

—> Target a $0.01 in update fees per feeds

—> Set the update fee to 0.06 CRO per feed

At current usage, this would bring $450 per month to the Pyth DAO

Meter

In 2024, there was on average 122,000 price updated every month ; and there’s about $0.6M in TVS by Pyth.

Checking onchain activity, a single (1) address is triggering price updates for 6 feeds on Meter (0x77723e81D59EC4F20600A7d4CB0344ED271316af). Transactions cost about 0.0269214 MTR or $0.015 thus the current monthly cost to do 20,333 transactions (updating 122,000 price updates) is about $305.

—> Target a $0.01 in update fees per feed for the Meter deployment

—> Set the update fee to 0.02 MTR per feed

At current usage, this would bring $1,200 per month to the Pyth DAO

Ronin

In 2024, there was on average 800,000 price updated every month ; and there’s about $1M in TVS by Pyth.

Checking onchain activity, a single (1) address is triggering price updates for 4 feeds on Ronin (0xf4deb00ff7ee423381a4fe05b47dab82fd49c21d). Transactions cost about 0.004478 RON or $0.008 thus the current monthly cost to do 200,000 transactions (updating 800,000 price updates) is about $1,630.

—> Target a $0.01 in update fees per transaction for the Ronin deployment

—> Set the update fee to 0.001 RON per feed

At current usage, this would bring $1,280 per month to the Pyth DAO

Sei

In 2024, there was on average 340,000 price updated every month ; and there’s about $0.1M in TVS by Pyth.

Checking onchain activity, a single (1) address is triggering price updates for 6 feeds on Sei EVM (0x70F67735D4b4D9FcFb3014da2470e2f82a8744c7). Transactions cost about 0.00035367281935161 SEI or $0.00015 thus the current monthly cost to do 56,000 transactions (updating 340,000 price updates) is about $10.

—> Target a $0.005 in update fees per feed for the Sei deployment

—> Set the update fee to 0.01 SEI per feed

At current usage, this would bring $1,200 per month to the Pyth DAO

Shimmer

In 2024, there was on average 570,000 price updated every month ; and there’s about $0.1M in TVS by Pyth.

Checking onchain activity, a single (1) address is triggering price updates for 9 feeds on Shimmer (0x669a1dA59bF2216Ec31D2432c6B467788961A8Ce). Transactions cost about 0.282432 SMR or $0.00035346082368 thus the current monthly cost to do 63,333 transactions (updating 570,000 price updates) is about $25.

—> Target a $0.01 in update fees per transaction for the Shimmer deployment

—> Set the update fee to 1 SMR per feed

At current usage, this would bring $570 per month to the Pyth DAO

Summary of Proposed Fees

Expected Outcomes

• Projected monthly revenue: ~$6,870
• Future opportunities for fee adjustments based on market response
• Foundation for sustainable oracle economics

Next Steps

This proposal focuses exclusively on fee implementation strategy. The allocation and usage of generated fees will require separate discussion and governance decisions.

Community Feedback

We welcome input from all stakeholders:

• Publishers
• Oracle users
• Committed Pythians

Your insights will be valuable in refining this proposal and guiding the DAO’s decision-making process.