Publication Date: December 25, 2025
Author: BlockBeats Editorial Team

Over the past 24 hours, the crypto market has witnessed various dynamics ranging from macroeconomic discussions to ecosystem-specific developments.

Mainstream topics have focused on DeFi governance disputes and institutional lending expansion. In terms of ecosystem development, attention has been on the Ethereum upgrade process, Perp DEX governance decisions, and other ecosystem innovations.

I. Mainstream Topics

1. Uniswap Foundation Executive Compensation Dispute Intensifies

Recent tax disclosures have revealed that the foundation disbursed nearly $10 million in 2024 but spent around $4.8 million on employee compensation, with executives receiving a total of $3.87 million, including a former DevRel head's $700,000 annual salary and a governance lead's $540,000. The event stemmed from community concerns about the foundation's efficiency, with the Optimism Grants Council delivering over six times the funding at a lower cost (around $2.14 million plus additional fees), triggering strong dissatisfaction among UNI holders.

In community discussions, many have criticized this as a "shame" for DAO governance, emphasizing that executive compensation accounts for 22% of the foundation's expenditures, far exceeding industry standards, and questioning their actual value contribution, such as developer growth and research output. Some views suggest the legal roles' compensation is too low, but overall, it is seen as an abuse of holder interests, leading to disappointment in DAO participation and calls for transparency.

2. Maple Finance Loan Volume Reaches All-Time High

The platform issued a single $500 million USDC loan yesterday, while the outstanding loan amount hit a new peak, signaling an increase in assets under management from $500 million to over $5 billion in 2025, with total loans exceeding $8.5 billion, achieving over $25 million in annualized revenue. In a founder's letter reviewing milestones, collaborations to expand cross-chain products with Aave, Pendle, and others were highlighted, along with introducing AI integration and HYPE collateralized loans. The 2026 target is set at $10 billion ARR, emphasizing real sustainable returns over incentive-driven ones.

The community has responded positively, praising the stability of risk-adjusted returns, internal credit assessment standardization, and multi-chain expansion (such as Linea, Solana). Protocol revenue has grown by 300%, and a 25% buyback mechanism has been implemented to reward SYRUP holders. Discussions are focused on its potential as an on-chain asset management standard and how integrations with partners like Spark, Plasma are accelerating institutional adoption.

2. Mainstream Ecosystem Updates

1. Ethereum Hegota Network Upgrade Timeline Revealed

The Ethereum Foundation released the 2026 Hegota upgrade roadmap on December 22, following Fusaka (introducing PeerDAS) and Glamsterdam (Block-level Access Lists and Proposer-Builder Separation), focusing on the integration of selected EIPs. Key milestones include submitting the Headliner proposal to Ethereum Magicians forum from January 8 to February 4 (evaluating necessity, impact, technical readiness, and specifying champions using a template), discussing and finalizing it during four All Core Devs meetings from February 5 to 26, and then submitting non-Headliner proposals within a 30-day window; FOCIL (EIP-7805, anti-censorship feature) is under consideration. This upgrade aims to enhance network efficiency, decentralization, and security, and the timeline can be tracked on Forkcast.

The community discussion has been positive, with many seeing it as reinforcing Ethereum's long-term vision, such as protecting investment value and maintaining decentralized node operation. Some emphasize its focus on reducing state data, which will drive L2 ecosystem consolidation (EIL proposal). Developers see it as a foundation for enduring infrastructure development. Overall feedback is optimistic about its protective effect on ETH holders, although potential changes need to be monitored.

2. Perp DEX Governance Updates

Hyperliquid validators and stakers approved a proposal to permanently burn HYPE tokens held in the aid fund, where previous fund purchases were considered economically equivalent to burning. This action provides clear clarification and strengthens governance transparency. The founder expressed gratitude for community participation and looks forward to future developments. Meanwhile, Kinetiq introduced the KIP2 proposal to drive protocol optimization (specific details to be disclosed).

The community response has been enthusiastic, with many seeing this as an unstoppable signal from Hyperliquid, boosting confidence in the team and sparking discussions on deploying cash or initiating a DAT. Some feedback focuses on the positive impact of burning, highlighting its potential boost to price and the ecosystem, although some have inquired about the timing for buying in. Overall, it is seen as a successful example of governance process, driving the evolution of the Perp DEX competitive landscape.

3. Other Ecosystem Developments

The MegaETH ecosystem prediction market project Rocket Finance completed a $1.5 million seed round financing, led by Electric Capital, with follow-on investments from Bodhi Ventures, Tangent, and Amber Group, among others. The project introduces a "redistribution market" mechanism, allowing users to make real-time predictions based on price feeds, with no binary bets, no liquidation, unlimited upside, and support for multi-prediction leveraging of capital, emphasizing "trading on movement rather than outcome." Former Augur CEO Matt Liston announced the development of the Agentic prediction market project, combining LLM (encoding the past) and prediction markets (aggregating future beliefs) to form a "cognitive finance" system. Its design draws inspiration from the Augur token fork, sparking excitement.

The community discussion is optimistic, viewing the Rocket as a breakthrough in the prediction market, praising its no-settlement design and video teaser; feedback on Matt's return is strong, seen as a big win that advances DeFi awareness, despite the funding announcement prompting jokes about a "casino-style rug pull" - overall, there is confidence in its potential for MegaETH and the prediction ecosystem.

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