Uniswap Gets Fee Switch for Christmas
Happy Friday, Defiers!
And Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! Markets are slumping this week amid quiet holiday trading after a brief pre-Christmas rally. BTC is back under $88,000, ETH is just under $3,000, and large-caps are posting 1%-3% losses on the week, with the exception of DOGE and ADA, both down 8%. Meanwhile BTC and ETH ETFs saw net outflows on Dec. 24.
Christmas day was relatively quiet in crypto, aside from the conclusion of saga-like governance votes from Uniswap and Aave, the exploit of Trust Wallet’s browser extension, and updates from Lighter as supporters await the platform’s TGE.
Here’s what’s happening:
- AAVE holders reject token alignment proposal
- Trust Wallet promises to refund users after $7M exploit
- Uniswap finally activates the fee switch
- Lighter publishes operations code
The Defiant’s 2025 in review:
- RWAs Became Wall Street’s Gateway to Crypto in 2025
- Prediction Markets Expand from DeFi Niche to Global News Sources
- Stablecoins Became Crypto’s First Mainstream Use Case in 2025
- Looking Ahead: The Biggest Names in Crypto Predict New Bitcoin Highs and a Tokenization Boom in 2026
Read more below! But first, please give our sponsors some love; they make this newsletter possible.
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📈 Markets in the Past 24 Hours
| TICKER | VALUE | 24H | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Bitcoin | $87,532 | -0.42 % |
 | Ethereum | $2,930.46 | -0.64 % |
 | BNB | $835.91 | -0.71 % |
 | XRP | $1.85 | -0.79 % |
 | Solana | $122.41 | -0.68 % |
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🎬WATCH
Unpacking Uniswap’s “fee switch” with Hayden Adams
The UNIfication proposal just passed with an overwhelming majority of voters in favor. On the most recent episode of The Defiant podcast, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams joins us to break down the proposal — a sweeping plan from Uniswap Labs + the Uniswap Foundation that would activate protocol fees, introduce a programmatic UNI burn, and realign how value accrues across the Uniswap ecosystem.
Top News in the Past 24 Hours
- Aave Holders Reject Token Alignment Proposal Aave holders voted against the token alignment proposal, which sought to bring clarity to the ecosystem’s dynamics and to shift more control from Aave Labs to the DAO.Why it matters: While the rejection was in line with general expectations, many participants and onlookers saw the proposal as rushed, as it came over the holidays.
- Trust Wallet Confirms $7M Stolen in Browser Extension HackCrypto wallet Trust Wallet confirmed early morning on Friday that approximately $7 million in customer funds were lost in an exploit, which the platform promised to refund. Why it matters: This isn’t the first time Trust Wallet’s browser extension has raised security concerns.
- Uniswap Passes 'UNIfication' Fee Switch Proposal After years of back and forth, Uniswap’s elusive fee switch is finally being flipped with the Uniswap DAO overwhelmingly passing the “UNIfication” proposal on Christmas day. Why it matters: The fee switch was first proposed in 2022 and will see the protocol allocate fee revenue to burn UNI, potentially benefitting token holders.
- Lighter Publishes Operations Code Ahead of TGE Anticipation is building after the perpetual derivatives DEX Lighter published its full codebase and circuits architecture ahead of its much-anticipated token generation event (TGE). Why it matters: Lighter has dominated the decentralized perp trading scene over the last month, as traders earn points ahead of its TGE.
Trending on The Defiant
- RWAs Became Wall Street’s Gateway to Crypto in 2025
- Stablecoins Became Crypto’s First Mainstream Use Case in 2025
- The Biggest Names in Crypto Predict New Bitcoin Highs and a Tokenization Boom in 2026
- Shift4 Launches Multi-Chain Stablecoin Support for Merchants
- Prediction Markets Expand from DeFi Niche to Global News Sources
- Bitcoin Slips Below $87,000 in Choppy Holiday Trading
That’s it for today — if you enjoyed this newsletter, tell your friends! https://thedefiant.io/subscribe
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