Users deposit ETH or liquid staking tokens (stETH, ETHx, etc.) into Kelp and receive rsETH, a liquid restaking token. The deposited assets are delegated to EigenLayer operators to earn restaking rewards on top of base staking yields.

Kelp DAO is a liquid restaking protocol built on Ethereum and EigenLayer. It enables users to restake their ETH and liquid staking tokens while maintaining liquidity through the rsETH derivative token. Kelp was launched in December 2023.

Kelp DAO (part of KernelDAO) develops and governs the protocol. The protocol charges a 3.5% fee on staking rewards (revenue), as set by protocolFeeInBPS in the LRTConfig contract. Kelp DAO's $9M private sale was co-led by SCB Limited and Laser Digital, with participation from Bankless Ventures, Hypersphere Ventures, Cypher Capital, GSR, and others.

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Kelp DAO

# Kelp DAO Average fees per user (AFPU) Methodology

## 1. Overview

Average fees per user (AFPU) measures the average value contributed by each individual user to the protocol's total fee generation on a daily basis. This metric reflects the economic efficiency of the Kelp DAO ecosystem, accounting for ETH staking yield, EIGEN rewards, and vault-specific management and performance fees for products such as agETH and hgETH. By dividing the total fees by the number of active users (daily), the intensity of protocol usage and value capture is quantified.

## 2. Data sources

- **Blockchain events**: `AssetDeposit` and `ETHDeposit` events from `LRTDepositPool` contracts, `AssetWithdrawalQueued` events from `LRTWithdrawalManager` contracts, `Claimed` events from `EigenRewardDistributor` contracts, and ERC-20 `Transfer` events, covering Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Blast, and 4 other chains
- **External data**: End-of-day price feeds for native assets and liquid restaking tokens including rsETH and EIGEN

## 3. Step-by-step calculation

### Component A: Active users (daily) identification

- **Purpose**: To identify the unique set of users interacting with Kelp DAO protocols on a daily basis
- **Logic**: Unique user addresses are extracted from `AssetDeposit` and `ETHDeposit` events from `LRTDepositPool` contracts, as well as `AssetWithdrawalQueued` events from `LRTWithdrawalManager` contracts. Transactions associated with designated L2 redeposit addresses are excluded to ensure only organic user activity is represented. Active users (daily) are then calculated as the count of distinct addresses identified across these interaction types.
- **Key fields**: `depositor`, `withdrawer`, and `transaction_hash`

### Component B: Fee stream aggregation

- **Purpose**: To aggregate and value all fee-generating activities within the protocol
- **Logic**: Total fees are calculated by combining four primary revenue streams. First, ETH staking yield is derived from daily rsETH/ETH oracle rate appreciation across all supported chains, then grossed up by the protocol fee rate. Second, EIGEN rewards are captured by parsing `Claimed` events from `EigenRewardDistributor` contracts. Third, management fees for agETH (2% annual) and hgETH (1.5% annual) are identified via ERC-20 `Transfer` events from vault contracts to fee collection addresses. Fourth, performance fees for hgETH are calculated as 20% of positive exchange rate deltas, applied only when the vault total value locked exceeds $50M.
- **Key fields**: `amount`, `value`, `rate`, and `total_supply`

### Component C: Average fees per user calculation

- **Purpose**: To determine the daily average fee generated per unique active user
- **Logic**: All collected fee amounts are normalized by decimal precision and converted to USD using end-of-day price feeds. The total daily fees in USD are then divided by the number of active users (daily) for the corresponding 24-hour window. A daily granularity is maintained using UTC day boundaries.
- **Key fields**: `fees` and `user_dau` (active users (daily))

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

Kelp DAO

Average fees per user (AFPU)

Average fees per user (AFPU)

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