Axelar Network node operators validate cross-chain transactions. They currently take a cut of transfer fees (supply-side fees).

Axelar Network is an interoperability protocol that allows for decentralized transfers of data and assets between blockchains. Axelar Network was founded by Sergey Gorbunov and Georgios Vlachos, and was launched in 2022. This dashboard currently only includes data for the following chains: Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, BNB Chain, Celo, Ethereum, Fantom, Optimism, and Polygon.

AXL tokenholders own and govern the protocol. They currently take a cut of transfer fees paid by transfer senders (revenue). Axelar Network’s investors include Polychain Capital, Dragonfly Capital, North Island Ventures, etc.

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Axelar Network

# Axelar Network Fees Methodology

## 1. Overview

Axelar fees represent the validator fees paid to the Axelar network for General Message Passing (GMP) transactions. This metric calculates the total daily fees in USD generated by cross-chain messaging and token transfer transactions across Axelar's supported EVM chains. The calculation applies a fixed rate of 0.1 AXL tokens per GMP transaction, reflecting the portion of the 0.2 AXL fee that goes to validators.

## 2. Data sources

The metric relies on several types of blockchain data:
- **Gateway contract events**: Parsed `Gateway_ContractCallWithToken_event`, `Gateway_ContractCall_event`, `Gateway_Executed_event`, and `Gateway_TokenSent_event` logs from Axelar Gateway contracts across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, BSC, Celo, Fantom, Optimism, and Polygon
- **Token transfer events**: Parsed token transfer events from all supported chains, used to identify amounts and token addresses associated with Gateway events  
- **Transaction data**: Transaction records from all supported chains to identify user addresses and validate event associations
- **External price data**: End-of-day price feeds for AXL token conversion to USD
- **Token metadata**: Token symbol and decimal information for proper amount calculations

## 3. Step-by-step calculation

### Component A: GMP transaction identification
- **Purpose**: Identify all unique GMP transactions across three categories: contract calls with tokens, contract calls without tokens, destination chain executions, and source chain token sends
- **Logic**: Extract Gateway contract events from all supported chains and join with corresponding token transfers and transaction data. For contract calls with tokens, use the amount directly from the event. For contract calls without tokens, join with token transfer logs occurring immediately after the Gateway event. For destination executions, join Gateway executed events with subsequent token transfers. For source chain sends, join TokenSent events with preceding token transfers, excluding transfers to EVM chains tracked separately to avoid double-counting
- **Key fields**: Extract `transaction_hash`, `block_timestamp`, `chain`, `user_address` from transaction data, `amount` and `token_address` from transfers or events

### Component B: Daily transaction aggregation  
- **Purpose**: Count unique transactions per day per chain to avoid double-counting across the three transaction types
- **Logic**: Group all identified GMP transactions by day, chain, and business classification. Use approximate count distinct on `transaction_hash` to get unique daily transaction counts per chain. Combine counts from all three transaction sources using union all operations
- **Key fields**: Aggregate to daily timestamp grain with `transaction_count` representing unique GMP transactions per chain per day

### Component C: Fee calculation
- **Purpose**: Apply Axelar's fee structure to calculate total validator fees in AXL tokens
- **Logic**: Multiply daily transaction counts by 0.1 to calculate fees in AXL tokens. This represents the validator portion of Axelar's 0.2 AXL per transaction fee structure. Use the hardcoded AXL token address `0x467719ad09025fcc6cf6f8311755809d45a5e5f3` and standardize all chain identifiers to 'ethereum' for price lookup purposes while maintaining original chain information
- **Key fields**: Calculate `fees` field as transaction count × 0.1, with `token_address` set to AXL contract address

### Final aggregation
- **Combining components**: The transaction counts flow directly into fee calculation without additional joining, as fees are calculated as a simple multiplication of transaction volume
- **Currency conversion**: Convert AXL token amounts to USD using end-of-day price feeds, applying appropriate decimal corrections for the AXL token
- **Time aggregation**: Maintain daily granularity with timestamp truncation to day boundaries
- **Final calculation**: The final metric represents total daily validator fees in USD, calculated as (unique GMP transactions per chain per day) × 0.1 AXL × AXL/USD exchange rate, with missing dates filled as zeros and chain availability filtering applied

*This methodology was automatically generated by Token Terminal's methodology analyzer.*

Total value users pay to use a protocol (gross fees, user-paid fees).

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