Publication Date: December 19, 2025
Author: BlockBeats Editorial Team

Over the past 24 hours, the crypto market has unfolded on multiple fronts. The mainstream discussion has centered around the issuance timing and buyback strategy of the Perp DEX project, ongoing debates regarding the TGE timing of Lighter and whether Hyperliquid's buyback is squeezing long-term development. In terms of ecosystem development, the Solana ecosystem has seen the real-world implementation attempt of DePIN, while Ethereum is advancing DEX fee structure changes and AI protocol layer upgrades in sync. Stablecoins and high-performance infrastructure are accelerating their integration with traditional finance.

I. Mainstream Topics

1. UNI Burn Proposal Enters Final Vote: Governance Alignment or Narrative Fix?

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams's "Unification" proposal has entered the final governance voting stage, with voting set to commence on the evening of December 19 and run through December 25.

The proposal plans to burn 1 billion UNI tokens and simultaneously activate the v2, v3 mainnet fee switch (as well as Unichain fees), while also leveraging the Wyoming DUNA legal structure to achieve clearer alignment between Uniswap Labs and protocol governance at a legal level.

Overseas community debates are not solely focused on "whether to burn," but instead point to a change in the nature of governance itself: some voices question whether this is a carefully crafted "governance optics" move, suggesting that Labs is reasserting dominance over the agenda at a critical juncture, undermining the DAO's independence. Supporters emphasize its potential MEV internalization and fee rebates, viewing this as a necessary step for Uniswap to move towards a sustainable tokenomics.

Some more cautious views highlight that Uniswap Labs has already captured a significant amount of economic value in the past, contrasting with protocols like Aave gradually returning income to the DAO, and argue for a rational assessment of this governance adjustment under the "historical baggage." Overall, the proposal is seen as a significant milestone in Uniswap's shift in economic model, yet it once again exposes the ongoing blurring of boundaries between Labs and DAO in the top DeFi projects.

2. LIDO Valuation Debate Intensifies: Governance Token Paradox of High TVL and Low Market Cap

As Ethereum's largest staking liquidity protocol, Lido currently holds about a 25% market share, with TVL exceeding $260 billion, annual revenue of around $75 million, a treasury size of approximately $170 million, but its governance token LDO's market cap has fallen below $500 million, sparking widespread community skepticism.

The discussion is focused on a core issue: whether a governance token still has a reasonable valuation basis in the absence of dividends and the inability to directly capture cash flows.

Some opinions bluntly state that LDO's intrinsic value tends towards zero, believing that there is almost no direct correlation between protocol revenue and token holders. Some attribute the continuous price weakening to the downward trend of ETH staking APR, intensified staking competition, and the expected future market share decrease.

A more aggressive analogy describes Lido as the "Linux of the crypto world," with high utility but lacking in value capture. From a multi-perspective view, the only variable repeatedly mentioned is the potential buyback mechanism that may be launched in Q1 2026 and the structural changes related to an ETH ETF after the v3 upgrade.

In the overall debate, Lido's TVL-to-market cap ratio has reached approximately 52:1, once again highlighting the long-term misalignment of DeFi governance tokens between "infrastructural status" and "value-capture ability."

3. CZ Retweeting Privacy Transfer Discussion: On-Chain Transparency, Becoming a Payment Hurdle?

Binance CEO CZ retweeted Ignas' post on the privacy issue of crypto payments, pointing out that current on-chain transfers fully expose transaction history. In the short term, users can only temporarily avoid tracking through centralized exchanges, but this is clearly not a long-term solution. The retweet quickly sparked discussions, shifting the topic from "the importance of privacy" to "the existence of viable tools" and evolving into a concentrated display of privacy solutions.

Many projects and supporters took the opportunity to recommend various solutions, including Railgun, Zcash, ZK-based stablecoin solutions, UTXO-based chains, emphasizing low cost or native privacy advantages. Some users also joked from the perspective of daily payment experience, suggesting that under the current transparent ledger structure, using cryptocurrency to buy a cup of coffee is almost equivalent to publicly revealing one's entire asset status.

CZ's retweet further amplified the volume of discussion, expanding this topic from the technical circle to a broader audience of traders and payment users. Overall, this discussion once again highlights the increasingly prominent tension between a fully transparent on-chain design and real-world payment scenarios.

4. Validator Node Performance Debate: Data or Narrative?

The performance debate around Ethereum execution clients has continued to simmer over the past day. The new client Tempo claims to be the "fastest execution client," but community test data shows that its performance is only about one-tenth of Nethermind's, leading to widespread questioning of the veracity of its advertising.

The discussion quickly expanded from a single project to a more general question: within the node and Layer2 ecosystem, should performance representation be primarily based on marketing narratives, or must it strictly rely on reproducible data.

Some developers emphasize that public benchmark testing and real-world performance should be the criteria, opposing vague or selective data disclosure; others take the opportunity to discuss Ethereum client diversity, pointing out the trade-offs in performance, stability, and maintenance costs among different languages and implementation paths.

Overall, this debate reflects that validators and the infrastructure community's patience with the "performance myth" is decreasing, and the market is gradually demanding to steer the discussion back to the verifiable engineering level.

II. Mainstream Ecosystem Updates

1. Solana: Energy Company with $3 Billion Annual Recurring Revenue Enters DePIN

Energy company Fuse Energy has announced the completion of a $70 million Series B funding round led by Lowercarbon and Balderton, raising the company's valuation to $5 billion. Its disclosed Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) has reached $3 billion. Fuse stated that it will accelerate the market adoption of new technologies through the DePIN model while enhancing its operational efficiency.

In related discussions, some viewpoints suggest that this case signifies that large enterprises with mature cash flows are beginning to systematically adopt DePIN, initiating a supply-side flywheel through token incentives, reducing payment and geographic frictions, and compressing expansion costs. This move may have a spillover impact on the crypto industry in the coming years. Some community members question how DePIN specifically enhances business implementation efficiency, believing that its effectiveness still needs validation through actual execution. Overall, this event is seen as another signal of the Solana ecosystem attracting real business participants in the DePIN direction, strengthening the imaginative space where energy and crypto infrastructure intersect.

2. Ethereum: DEX Fee Landscape Shift and Parallel Advancement of AI Protocol Layer

In the DEX field, the latest data shows that Curve's share of Ethereum DEX fee revenue has significantly increased, approaching or even temporarily surpassing Uniswap. Community discussions point out that Uniswap's fee share has noticeably declined compared to last year, while Curve has rapidly rebounded from its previous low levels, being seen by some as a representative case of DeFi fee structure recovery in 2025. Some voices caution that the actual returns for veCRV holders have not improved in sync, highlighting a structural misalignment between governance tokens and protocol revenue.

Meanwhile, the ERC-8004 (Trustless Agents) protocol is set to go live on the Ethereum mainnet on January 16. The proposal was introduced back in August 2025 with the aim of providing a decentralized trust layer for autonomous AI agents, allowing them to discover, select, and interact without the need for pre-established trust. It is seen as a key protocol in building an open "agent economy." ERC-8004 was jointly authored by MetaMask, the Ethereum Foundation, Google, and Coinbase members, and has been actively promoted by the newly formed dAI team at the Ethereum Foundation. It has attracted over 150 projects for participation in its development, with a community size exceeding 1000 people, making it one of the most discussed proposals on the Ethereum Magicians forum.

Some in the community believe that this protocol marks Ethereum's attempt to become the settlement and coordination backbone for AI agents. However, the balance between user experience, security, and decentralization is still subject to practical feedback once the mainnet is live.

3. Perp DEX: TGE Expected Divergence and Buyback Strategy Controversy

Lighter TGE Timing Shift: Market Expectations Intensify Divergence

According to data shared by zoomerfied on Polymarket, the market predicts a 35% probability that Lighter will not have a TGE in 2025, with December 29, 2025, being considered the current most likely launch date. The related charts show that this probability has been steadily increasing since a temporary low on December 15 and reached 35% on December 18, with some noted retracement changes.

This prediction has sparked a debate in the community, with some questioning the validity and interpretive value of the information itself, while others believe that there is a lack of real motivation for a TGE within the year in the current market environment, suggesting that a delay to early 2026 would be more reasonable. Another view points out that the end of December falls during a holiday window, with limited market attention, making it difficult to generate effective momentum even if a token launch were to occur. Overall, the discussion surrounding the timing of Lighter's launch exhibits significant uncertainty, reflecting the market's ongoing oscillation regarding Perp DEX's project pace and risk appetite.

Hype's New Ecosystem Project Perpetuals: Continual Expansion of the Perpetuals Contract Track

Perpetuals, a new Perp project launched in the Hyperliquid (Hype) ecosystem, has made its official debut, focusing on decentralized perpetual contract trading and emphasizing design innovation in leverage mechanisms and liquidity incentives. Despite limited disclosure details, the community generally sees it as an extension to Hype's existing derivatives landscape, potentially forming a competitive relationship with projects like Lighter.

There is a discussion suggesting that in the future, this project may synergize with the point system or cross-chain mechanisms within the Hype ecosystem, thereby driving user migration and transaction activity. Overall, the emergence of Perpetuals is seen as a signal of the ongoing expansion of the Hype ecosystem, further intensifying the product and mechanism competition within the Perp DEX track.

Buyback or Growth Investment? Structural Debate Sparked by Hype's Buyback Strategy

There has been a noticeable split in the community regarding the ongoing $HYPE buyback strategy by Hyperliquid.

Some viewpoints indicate that Hyperliquid has spent approximately $1 billion on token buybacks, with limited long-term price impact. They believe that these funds should be more directed toward compliance building and creating competitive barriers to cope with potential future entries into the perpetual contract market by traditional financial institutions like Coinbase, Robinhood, Nasdaq, etc. They warn that buybacks might become a structural risk source after 2026.

In contrast, other voices argue that in the current cycle, buybacks are one of the few deterministic structural support measures, not only helping stabilize token expectations but also constructing anti-devaluation barriers by directly funneling platform cash flow back into the token. Some also believe that buybacks do not necessarily exclude growth investment; the key lies in balancing fund allocation. The overall debate reflects the ongoing balance DeFi projects face between "buyback price stabilization" and "long-term expansion." It also mirrors the gradual encroachment of TradFi competitive pressure, creating a strategic dilemma for Perp DEX projects.

4. Others

On the infrastructure level, MegaETH has announced that its Frontier mainnet is officially open to developers and projects.

The network has been live for several weeks, initially focusing on testing with infrastructure teams like LayerZero, EigenDA, Chainlink, RedStone, Alchemy, Safe, and is now beginning broader stress testing and unlocking the first batch of real-time applications. Information indicates that MegaETH has adopted a relatively transparent testing and observation approach, integrating block explorers and data analysis tools like Blockscout, Dune, Growthepie, while introducing community visualization solutions like MiniBlocksIO and Swishi.

In community discussions, some interpret this as a key stage "moving from trial operation to real workload," while others emphasize that the ability of a high-performance chain to deliver on its promises still depends on whether oracle and data infrastructure can keep pace. Overall, this opening is seen as a significant milestone for MegaETH's transition from the testing phase to the production environment, aiming to support more demanding cryptographic applications in terms of extreme performance requirements.

In the stablecoin realm, SoFi Bank has announced the launch of a fully reserved stablecoin called SoFiUSD, becoming the first nationally chartered retail bank to issue a stablecoin on a public permissionless blockchain.

In their official statement, SoFiUSD is positioned as a stablecoin infrastructure for banks, fintechs, and enterprise platforms, currently mainly used for internal settlement and with plans to gradually open it up to all SoFi users.

Community discussions have focused on both its product-market fit and liquidity challenges on one hand, and on the significance at an infrastructure level on the other: by re-engineering fintech settlement processes through the Galileo processing engine, achieving 24/7 instant settlement, reducing pre-funding and reconciliation costs, and earning floating interest through investing in U.S. treasuries. This development is seen as a signal of further integration between the traditional banking system and blockchain, highlighting the accelerated adoption of regulatory-friendly stablecoins.

Meanwhile, Visa has disclosed that the annualized transaction volume of its stablecoin settlement pilot has reached $3.5 billion, with the related business moving from a conceptual testing phase to observable market signals.

Visa has also announced two initiatives: first, launching global stablecoin consulting services through Visa Consulting & Analytics to assist financial institutions in assessing market fit and implementation paths; second, supporting U.S. issuers and acquirers in achieving 24/7 settlement through Circle's USDC on the Visa network, with Cross River Bank and Lead Bank being the first to go live, and more institutions planning to join by 2026. Community discussions have focused on the impact of this model on programmable fund management and liquidity efficiency, overall seen as a significant step in the traditional payment giants' acceleration of blockchain integration.

Furthermore, PayPal's stablecoins, PYUSD and USDAI, have announced a collaboration aimed at enhancing inter-stablecoin interoperability and overall liquidity.

Information has centered on potential collaboration directions between the two in areas such as cross-chain transfers, liquidity pool integration, or payment scenario integrations. Community interpretations generally believe that such cooperation will help reduce friction costs for stablecoins across different ecosystems and drive their collaborative use in DeFi and payment systems, reflecting the stablecoin race transitioning from singular competition to a more alliance-based evolutionary stage.

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