The Business of Spark: How Sky's Largest Sub-DAO Is Earning $27.8M In A Bear Market | Revenue Meta

Sam MacPherson is the CoFounder and CEO of Phoenix Labs, the core team behind Spark.

Some DeFi protocols are burning through reserves, while others wait for the bull market to save them. Spark is doing neither.

In a new episode of our Revenue Meta series, Sam breaks down the business behind Spark and how it's generating $27.8M in projected annual revenue (up from $23M since recording) across four business channels. We discuss what's being done with the $9.6M protocol surplus to better return value to SPK holders through programmatic buybacks and growth initiatives. We also cover the Spark Liquidity Layer managing over $2.3 billion in DeFi, CeFi, and TradFi. Sam has the latest on their upcoming CeDeFi prime brokerage called Spark Prime and what else is in store to get Spark back to earning a projected $80M in annual revenue.

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💎 THIS EPISODE'S SPONSORS

🔒 KPK | Best risk-adjusted yield through automated vaults

🏙 MAINSTREET | Bringing proven TradFi yield strategies to DeFi markets

🟠 APYX | Enhanced digital credit yield, onchain

🏦 ALTURA | Bringing the yield institutions kept, to your wallet

🕛 NOON | The highest and safest stablecoin yield, built for the long term

👻 MANTLE | Aave V3 is live on Mantle

🐡 PUFFER INSTITUTIONAL | ETH staking solutions for scale

⚔️ KATANA | Deep liquidity & real yield

⚙️ GEARBOX PROTOCOL | Onchain lending reimagined

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⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

0:00 - Intro
2:10 - Spark x Sky relationship
4:03 - Spark products: Spark Savings, Spark Liquidity Layer, SparkLend
9:22 - Team and operations behind Spark
10:57 - How does Spark make money?
13:42 - Spark’s revenue: $23M revenue, $13.6M opex, $9.6M surplus
20:06 - How Spark DAO uses protocol surplus to return value to SPK holders
22:14 - Spark DAO treasury and SPK buybacks
26:56 - Who are Spark’s customers?
32:57 - Which Spark product is driving more revenue?
35:23 - Does Sky growth create tailwinds for Spark?
38:44 - Is Aave’s reputation hit an opportunity for Spark and Sky?
41:37 - Growth drivers for Spark next
44:03 - Spark Prime, a CeDeFi prime brokerage
46:22 - Sam’s growth goals for 2026
47:53 - Closing

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🔗 GUEST LINKS

► Spark website: https://spark.fi/
► Spark Data Hub: https://data.spark.fi/
► Spark Financials: https://data.spark.fi/financials
► Spark on X: https://x.com/sparkdotfi
► Sam MacPherson on X: https://x.com/hexonaut

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DISCLAIMER: Nothing said on The Edge Podcast is a recommendation to buy or sell tokens or securities. This content is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing shared here is financial advice. Any views expressed by hosts or guests on the show are solely their opinions. Always do your own research. DeFi Dad, Nomatic, and guests may have positions in the assets or other matters discussed in this podcast.