DEX

Uniswap is holding a final governance vote on its Fee Switch Activation Proposal from December 19 to December 26. If approved, a two-day timelock would precede a burn of 100 million UNI and the activation of v2 and v3 mainnet fee switches, affecting LP earnings. UNI was $5.31 with a $3.35 billion market cap on December 20, 2025, per CoinMarketCap.

On December 20, 2025, Aster and Lighter were reported to be closing the gap with Hyperliquid's dominance in decentralized perpetual futures exchanges. Monthly perp volumes reached $252 billion for Lighter and $218 billion for Aster, while open interest stood at $1.7 billion, $2.4 billion, and $7 billion for Lighter, Aster, and Hyperliquid. In November, Lighter briefly led after a $68 million funding round.

TRON DAO announced a LayerZero-powered bridge that connects TRX directly to Coinbase’s Base network, giving the token new access to DeFi protocols and liquidity on the L2. TRX is still trading around $0.28 in a tight range below the $0.29–$0.305 resistance area, with weak money flow and no clear bullish breakout yet.

Hyperliquid Foundation says it will permanently remove about $1 billion in HYPE by locking 37 million tokens in an unspendable system address. Validators are voting on an Assistance Fund between December 17 and 21. The move comes amid intense competition in perpetual DEXs and aims to tighten supply while refocusing attention on cash-flow metrics.

Derivatives protocol Synthetix is migrating from Layer-2 networks back to Ethereum's mainnet after three years. Citing liquidity fragmentation, it plans to wind down deployments on Base, Arbitrum and Optimism by mid-2025, according to ainvest.com; SNX has fallen about 83% since late 2024. The return begins with a gated V3 soft launch.

On Dec. 19, 2025, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted "I like @Solana," following the company's Dec. 17 systems update. He thanked the Solana team and highlighted the launch of Solana DEX trading via Jupiter inside the Coinbase app, with rollout in the U.S. The update also outlined stocks, prediction markets, and an institutional tokenization platform.

Lifinity, a Solana-based DEX, will wind down after a community vote. On December 10, 2025, a shutdown proposal was put to holders, and on December 18, 2025, the team announced the decision on X. The protocol plans to distribute $43.4 million in USDC to $LFNTY holders, after processing about $150 billion since 2022.

EchoSync has introduced a copy trading dashboard on decentralized perpetual exchange Aster, linked to its Human vs AI trading competition running from December 9 to 23, 2025. Human traders currently lead the rankings with higher realized profits but larger drawdowns, while AI models show smaller losses and more consistent capital preservation. Aster has set a $200,000 prize pool with conditions favoring human winners and is adding USD1 trading pairs as its ASTER token trades 71% below its September peak.

On December 18, 2025 in Zug, the dYdX Foundation held its Monthly Analyst Call with dYdX Labs, outlining recent performance and governance moves. Over the latest 30 days, the protocol saw $16.1 billion in perpetual volume and daily activity of $600–800 million, while approving Surge Season 9 with a 50% fee rebate and a $1 million incentive program. The month also added Solana spot trading with U.S. access and a BONK partnership that shares 50% of fees with the BONK DAO.

Synthetix is returning its perpetuals protocol to Ethereum's mainnet after three years. Founder Kain Warwick said on Wednesday the network can now support high-frequency trading, citing sharply lower gas costs, with average fees about 0.71 gwei versus 18.85 gwei a year earlier. He expects other perp DEXs to follow.