How to Estimate the Real Profits of a Sequencer
The core logic for estimating the real profits of a sequencer is to do one simple calculation: Sequencer Profit = Transaction Fees Collected from Users - Total Cost of Submitting Data to Ethereum Mainnet. This difference is the money the sequencer earns as a "block space wholesaler".
Why Can the Profit Be Calculated?
The business model of an L2 sequencer can be understood as "buy low, sell high" – buying block space on Ethereum mainnet in bulk at a low price, then reselling it to ordinary users on the L2 at a higher retail price.
Revenue side: Every transaction you make on an L2, the gas fee you pay (base fee + priority tip) goes directly into the sequencer's pocket.
Cost side: The sequencer does not send each transaction individually to Ethereum. Instead, it compresses thousands of transactions into a "batch" and submits them to the mainnet all at once. It needs to pay L1 gas fees for this, which is its biggest operating cost.
Profit side: As long as the total fees collected from users exceed the total fees paid to Ethereum (plus operating costs such as servers), the sequencer is making money.
How to Estimate Specifically?
You can estimate the profit situation of an L2 sequencer in two steps:
Step 1: Estimate Total Revenue
Identify data source: Go to a data analytics platform like Dune Analytics and find the sequencer revenue dashboard for the corresponding L2 (e.g., Arbitrum, Base, Optimism).
Obtain revenue data: Look at the Sequencer Revenue for that L2 within a specified period (e.g., the past 24 hours or 7 days). This figure is the sum of all transaction fees the sequencer has received from users.
Completion standard: Successfully obtain the total revenue data for the target L2 within the chosen timeframe.
Step 2: Estimate Total Cost
Identify data source: Also on on-chain data platforms, find the cost of batch submission for that L2 to Ethereum mainnet.
Obtain cost data: Sum up the total L1 gas fees paid by the sequencer to Ethereum for submitting all transaction batches within the target timeframe.
Completion standard: Successfully obtain the total cost data for the target L2 within the chosen timeframe.
Estimation Formula and Real-World Cases
Plug the data from the two steps above into this formula:
Sequencer Net Profit ≈ Total Revenue - Total Submission Cost - Operating Costs
Note: Operating costs such as servers and maintenance are usually not disclosed, but they have a relatively small impact on the profit estimate and can be temporarily ignored.
Real-world case references:
Overall level (2025): Taking the Base network as an example, its average daily earnings in the first half of 2025 were approximately $185,000.
Single transaction perspective: A user might pay $0.10 for a transaction, but the sequencer's cost to package it and submit it to an Ethereum blob could be as low as $0.001. The profit per transaction is very substantial.
Profit distribution model (2026): Some L2 ecosystems have begun exploring profit distribution. For example, Arbitrum launched the "Arbitrum Expansion Program" in July 2026, which will collect 10% of the sequencer net profit from new L2 networks built using its technology stack.
Additional Profit Source: MEV
In addition to earning the gas price spread, some L2 sequencers that adopt specific sequencing mechanisms can also profit through Maximal Extractable Value (MEV). For instance, a sequencer can extract extra profits from users' large transactions through methods like front-running or JIT (Just-in-Time) liquidity.
Confirming the Operation Is Complete
After completing the estimation, cross-verify the calculated profit figure with publicly available industry reports or the project's own financial disclosures. If the orders of magnitude are close, it indicates your estimation method is basically accurate. You can then regularly track the relevant data dashboards to observe the changing trends in the L2's profitability.
