This Week in Crypto 🗞️

📈 DeFi protocols may outpace the broader crypto market this year.

Kaiko points to upcoming regulatory clarity under the Trump administration as a key catalyst. Kaiko’s DeFi index (KSDEFI) has outperformed $ETH, surging roughly 75% since October 2023. Uniswap and $Aave could soon enable “fee switches” that distribute protocol revenue to token holders, while Wall Street’s accelerated tokenization push may boost RWA projects like Ondo.

👀 Hyperliquid flips Solana in fees.

Hyperliquid has overtaken Solana in 7-day fees, generating $12.6M with its zero-gas, fully onchain perpetuals DEX, but concerns over centralization and a closed-source API remain. Notably, all fees generated on the platform are reinvested into the community, funding HYPE buybacks and liquidity incentives.

🚀 MKR soars 50% following governance drama.

Sky (formerly Maker) saw its SKY/MKR token surge 70% in two weeks after governance facilitators blocked what some labeled a hostile takeover attempt. GFX Labs’ PaperImperium ignited the controversy by calling out a rushed proposal to double MKR’s borrowing power and raise its loan-to-value from 50% to 80%, while founder Rune Christensen defended the move as necessary to ward off attackers aiming to accumulate voting control, drawing parallels to past on-chain governance battles.