Node operators process transactions and receive token incentives. These independently owned high-spec node machines around the world are connected via Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), creating a self-sovereign network not reliant on any cloud services. Advanced cryptography allows any application or service to be run on the network in a decentralized manner via smart contracts.

The Internet Computer is a decentralized cloud blockchain, where apps can be built fully onchain, using AI, or by coding. Try caffeine.ai & icp.ninja.

ICP tokenholders own and govern the protocol. They currently take (burn) all of the total transaction fees paid by users (revenue). ICP Holders can stake their ICP on the Network Nervous System (NNS), an advanced fully on-chain DAO that facilitates liquid democracy. Staking ICP allows users to submit proposals, vote on proposals, and earn rewards for their participation in governance. Internet Computer's investors include Polychain, Scalar Capital, Amino Capital, etc.

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Internet Computer

# Internet Computer Earnings Methodology

## 1. Overview

Internet Computer earnings represents the protocol's daily net profit, calculated as total revenue minus total expenses. This metric measures the financial performance of the Internet Computer blockchain by tracking fee income against token-based reward expenses. Revenue comes from ICP tokens burned for cycles and transaction fees, while expenses consist of governance rewards and node operator incentives distributed to network participants.

## 2. Data sources

- **ICP burn events**: Raw data from Internet Computer Protocol scrapers tracking ICP tokens burned when users purchase cycles for computation
- **Transaction fee data**: Internet Computer Protocol scraper data capturing fees collected from network transactions
- **Governance reward distributions**: Protocol scraper data recording ICP rewards distributed to governance participants for voting and proposals
- **Node reward payouts**: Internet Computer Protocol scraper data tracking ICP incentives paid to node operators for running network infrastructure
- **End-of-day price feeds**: CoinGecko price data for ICP token to convert native amounts to USD values

## 3. Step-by-step calculation

### Component A: Revenue from ICP burns
- **Purpose**: Captures revenue from ICP tokens burned when users purchase cycles for computation on the Internet Computer network
- **Logic**: Extract raw burn data from Internet Computer Protocol scrapers, remove duplicate records by keeping the latest entry per timestamp using row numbering, normalize raw ICP amounts by dividing by 10^8 to account for token decimals, convert cumulative burn totals to daily burn amounts using lag window functions to calculate the difference from the previous day's total, shift timestamps back by one day to align with the actual burn date, convert ICP amounts to USD using end-of-day CoinGecko prices
- **Key fields**: `daily_timestamp` for date alignment, `amount` for normalized ICP burn quantity, burn tracking as `ICP burned for Cycles` contract name

### Component B: Revenue from transaction fees  
- **Purpose**: Captures revenue from fees collected on Internet Computer network transactions
- **Logic**: Extract raw transaction fee data from Internet Computer Protocol scrapers, deduplicate records by keeping the latest entry per timestamp, normalize raw ICP amounts by dividing by 10^8 for proper decimal representation, convert cumulative fee totals to daily fee amounts using lag window functions to calculate daily increments, adjust timestamps back by one day for proper date alignment, convert ICP amounts to USD using end-of-day CoinGecko prices
- **Key fields**: `daily_timestamp` for date tracking, `amount` for normalized ICP fee quantity, categorized as `Transaction fees` fee type

### Component C: Expenses from governance rewards
- **Purpose**: Tracks ICP token rewards distributed to network participants for governance activities like voting and proposals
- **Logic**: Extract raw governance reward data from Internet Computer Protocol scrapers, remove duplicates by selecting the most recent record per timestamp, normalize raw ICP values by dividing by 10^8 for decimal correction, convert ICP amounts to USD using end-of-day CoinGecko prices (no cumulative conversion needed as rewards are already daily amounts)
- **Key fields**: `daily_timestamp` for date reference, `amount` for normalized ICP reward quantity, labeled as `Governance rewards` incentive type

### Component D: Expenses from node rewards
- **Purpose**: Tracks ICP token incentives paid to node operators for running Internet Computer network infrastructure
- **Logic**: Extract raw node reward data from Internet Computer Protocol scrapers, deduplicate by keeping the latest record per timestamp, normalize raw ICP amounts by dividing by 10^8 for decimal adjustment, convert ICP amounts to USD using end-of-day CoinGecko prices (rewards are already daily amounts requiring no cumulative processing)
- **Key fields**: `daily_timestamp` for date tracking, `amount` for normalized ICP reward amount, categorized as `Node rewards` incentive type

### Final aggregation
- **Combining components**: Union ICP burns and transaction fees to create total daily revenue, union governance rewards and node rewards to create total daily expenses
- **Currency conversion**: All ICP amounts converted to USD using end-of-day CoinGecko price feeds via the convert_to_usd_cg macro applied to each component
- **Time aggregation**: Data aggregated to daily grain with timestamp standardization and business metadata assignment (blockchain business line, L1 blockchains market sector)
- **Final calculation**: Daily earnings computed by subtracting total token incentive expenses from total fee revenue using the calculate_earnings macro, with standardized schema application and zero-filling for missing dates via finalize_metric_earnings macro

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

Net profit (also profits, net income, profitability) — revenue remaining after subtracting expenses.

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