DEX

Yield Basis said deposits into its new Hybrid Vaults rose more than 120% in under two weeks, pointing to demand for yield strategies that preserve crypto exposure. The protocol is aimed at a long-standing DeFi issue: liquidity providers can underperform simple holders during sharp price moves. Curve Finance and Yield Basis founder Michael Egorov said interest is rising in approaches that let investors earn yield or access liquidity without fully exiting positions.

A coding flaw in the DIP token, a core utility asset in the Etherisc ecosystem, allowed an attacker to siphon about $111,098 in USD Coin (USDC), SlowMist said. In a threat-intelligence alert, the blockchain security firm put the loss at 111,097.6 USDC. The issue stemmed from a transfer path that could execute twice during certain swaps, according to the firm.

A wallet tied to former Bitforex chief Garrett Jin sold its entire 184,102 HYPE position, valued at about $13.55 million, for a $2.83 million profit. The wallet then rotated into a long position in Uniswap’s UNI. Lookonchain highlighted the transactions and said Jin, who posts as “Garrett Bullish,” had fully exited HYPE before taking the UNI position.

Bitcoin layer-2 projects are undergoing a tougher reassessment as a bear market weighs on prices and trading activity. Developers and investors are also facing sharper questions about whether these secondary networks can gain real adoption. The shift is forcing some teams to rethink their roadmaps and the long-term sustainability of layer-2 strategies under changing market conditions.

Aster DEX has overhauled its tokenomics, redirecting 99% of daily platform fees into automatic $ASTER buybacks and lifting the token more than 10% on the day. The protocol said it will conduct TWAP buybacks throughout each day and settle them on-chain to a public wallet. For every token repurchased, an equal amount will be permanently burned from reserves, starting with team allocations.

Uniswap’s UNI rose more than 23% in 24 hours to move above $3.60 on Wednesday, extending seven-day gains to nearly 50% and lifting market cap to $2.2 billion. The move followed Standard Chartered’s projection that UNI could reach $100 by end-2030, though critics argue the bank’s valuation assumptions improperly count liquidity provider fees.

Standard Chartered has reportedly started coverage on Uniswap's UNI and outlined a model that puts the token at $100 by the end of 2030 if tokenized real-world assets scale as expected. The projected path steps from $6.50 in 2026 to $20 in 2027, $40 in 2028, $65 in 2029 and then $100, with the thesis tied to a $4 trillion RWA tokenization market by 2028.

Humanity Protocol’s post-exploit rebound failed to hold as trust in the project remained damaged. That loss of confidence has made any recovery a long and difficult process.

As the broader crypto market slipped, Hyperliquid (HYPE), Uniswap (UNI) and Worldcoin (WLD) stood out with double-digit gains. Traders have been gravitating toward themes tied to onchain trading, decentralized finance and artificial intelligence. The moves have drawn fresh investor interest in these segments even as most major tokens drifted lower.

Could DeFi’s rising leverage set the stage for another liquidation cascade. On-chain data show the leverage ratio has climbed even as the overall size of DeFi has contracted. The key question is whether borrowed positions can hold up if prices keep falling.