The year for DeFi turned out to be ambiguous if you look only at TVL. The total locked liquidity remains around $122 billion, almost the same as in January. At first glance, the sector seems to be standing still.
Aave remains the largest player. It manages almost 32 billion, and among the top ten, Lido and other liquid staking platforms dominate. Uniswap confidently holds the title of main DEX. It already operates in 39 networks, and among the top platforms, it is used most often.
TVL dynamics in DeFi. Source: DefiLlama
Although the ecosystem is developing well, the UNI token has not returned to its 2021 peaks. It is now in the top 50 and ahead of Toncoin and Polkadot, but holders want more, considering the scale of the network.
UNI rose noticeably before the pullback and is now holding above $7
At the beginning of the month, it seemed that UNI was ready for a real breakout. On November 10, the token gained more than 50% and recovered from the drop that happened on October 10.
Traders were actively buying on every dip and expected the growth to continue throughout November. But the scenario turned out differently. On the eleventh, the price stopped and turned downward. After that, UNI updated local lows several times and settled just above $7.
UNI price dynamics. Source: CoinMarketCap
There is still a plus for the bulls. The uptrend is still intact, and the November 10 surge is still holding.
On the daily chart, UNI clearly shows a bullish flag. If buyers can break out of the current sideways movement and push the price above $8.5, it will open the way for further movement toward November highs.
UNIfication looks promising but not everyone likes the budget structure
The reason for the UNI jump to $10 on November 10 was the team proposal called UNIfication.
The essence of the update is to completely rebuild the project’s tokenomics. The team wants to redistribute part of the fees from pools, burn one hundred million UNI from the treasury, and unite working groups under the wing of Uniswap Labs to speed up development.
As of November 18, the proposal received overwhelming support at the preliminary voting stage and is already ready for on-chain placement. Almost all participants believe that the update will benefit token holders.
Voting on UNIfication receives almost full community support. Source: Snapshot
But there is a problem here.
After the implementation of UNIfication Uniswap plans to create a permanent development budget of 20 million UNI per year. Unlocking of these tokens will take place once a quarter starting from January 2026.
There are no details yet on how exactly this so-called fund will be used. The team only clarifies that the money will go to ecosystem development. The list includes grants, developer programs, and other initiatives that should support the growth of Uniswap.
But not everyone agrees with this approach. Critics believe that an annual budget of twenty million UNI looks too large and could create problems in the project’s economy. Essentially, part of the community sees this as a hidden ‘tax burden’ on Uniswap‘s success.
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The problem is that the amount is fixed in advance. If the budget always remains at twenty million tokens per year, there is a risk that over time this will begin to dilute the value of UNI and disrupt the emission balance. As a result, value will shift from token holders to expenses that are not sufficiently controlled.
Those who advocate transparency believe that the proposal should clearly specify what these twenty million UNI will be spent on, how grants will be distributed, and by what criteria teams will receive funding.
Now the market’s attention is focused not only on UNIfication, but also on how the community will react to the budget redistribution. Any decision here directly affects the long-term sustainability of the ecosystem and the value of the token. If the team can build a transparent model for using the funds and show a real effect from support programs, it will strengthen trust in Uniswap and reinforce the position of UNI at the next stage of growth.
