Cryptocurrency markets edged higher this week, offering a modest rebound after recent losses, even as year-end trading remained subdued. Bitcoin hovered close to the $88,000 mark, supported by light buying interest during the holiday slowdown. Still, demand for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds told a more cautious story. Data from Farside Investors shows ETFs logged $175 million in outflows on Wednesday alone, extending their losing streak to five consecutive days amid thin liquidity.
Beyond Bitcoin’s slow climb, the decentralized finance sector delivered a mix of governance disputes, bold forecasts, and renewed focus on security.
Aave Governance Vote Sparks Community Debate
One of the week’s most closely watched developments unfolded within the Aave ecosystem. Token holders voted down a proposal that aimed to transfer control of the protocol’s brand assets and intellectual property to a DAO-managed entity. The vote concluded on Friday, with 55.29% opposing the measure, 41.21% abstaining, and just 3.5% in favor.
The rejection capped a tense governance episode for one of DeFi’s largest lending platforms. Critics argued the proposal was rushed and lacked sufficient community engagement. The outcome underscored how timing, communication, and participation can decisively shape outcomes in decentralized governance.
Hyperliquid’s Rise Draws Attention — and Competition
Meanwhile, decentralized derivatives trading continued to gain momentum. Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetuals exchange, has emerged as a standout project in 2025, even as rivals attempt to lure traders with aggressive reward programs.
Cantor Fitzgerald has forecast that Hyperliquid’s HYPE token could reach $200 by 2035. According to Hyunsu Jung, CEO of Hyperion DeFi, much of that optimism centers on Hyperliquid Improvement Proposal 3 (HIP-3), which he described as a key driver of the platform’s next growth phase.
Perpetual futures remain a fast-growing segment of DeFi. CoinGecko data shows decentralized perpetuals exchanges increased their market share from 2.1% in early 2023 to a record 11.7% by November 2025, reflecting a steady shift away from centralized platforms.
CZ Calls for Stronger Wallet Protections After Major Scam
Security concerns returned to the spotlight after a single investor reportedly lost $50 million in USDT to an address poisoning scam. In response, Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao proposed new wallet-level safeguards, including automated warnings and blacklists for suspicious addresses.
Address poisoning involves sending small transactions to victims so malicious addresses appear in their transaction history, increasing the chance of accidental transfers. Zhao suggested wallets should filter out such spam entirely, preventing users from copying dangerous addresses. Scam Sniffer data shows phishing attacks cost victims $7.7 million in November alone, a figure expected to rise sharply in December.
Confidence Wanes Around Ethena’s USDe
Ethena’s synthetic dollar, USDe, has faced sustained outflows since a major liquidation event in October. According to 10x Research, USDe has seen roughly $8.3 billion in net outflows as confidence in leveraged and synthetic collateral models weakened during a broader market deleveraging phase.
The October sell-off erased an estimated $1.3 trillion from the crypto market, nearly 30% of its total value at the time. USDe’s market capitalization fell from about $14.7 billion on Oct. 9 to roughly $6.4 billion today, highlighting investor caution toward complex stablecoin designs.
Uniswap’s Fee Switch Set to Go Live
On a more optimistic note, Uniswap is preparing to activate its long-anticipated protocol fee switch, known as “UNIfication.” The proposal surpassed the required 40 million votes and is expected to go live following a brief timelock period.
The upgrade will introduce fee switches on Uniswap v2 and v3 deployed on Unichain, trigger the burning of 100 million UNI tokens from the foundation’s treasury, and roll out a new auction system designed to boost liquidity provider returns. News of the proposal earlier this month helped drive UNI up nearly 40%, and supporters believe the changes will strengthen the token’s long-term supply-demand dynamics.
Market Snapshot
Overall, sentiment across the broader market improved slightly. Most of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week higher, according to TradingView. The Pippin (PIPPIN) memecoin led weekly gains with a rise of more than 41%, followed by Canton (CC), which climbed over 25%.
