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Uniswap Floats Turning On Protocol Fees for v4 Pools

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Uniswap Floats Turning On Protocol Fees for v4 Pools

Temp check would extend the fee switch to Uniswap’s newest architecture, drawing an early warning that the move “risks killing the protocol.”

Uniswap Labs on July 7 proposed activating protocol fees on a subset of Uniswap v4 pools, extending the fee rollout that DAO voters approved under the UNIfication package to the exchange’s newest and most flexible pool architecture.

The temperature check went to a five-day Snapshot vote running July 7-12, with an onchain vote scheduled to begin the week of July 13. Because Uniswap’s GovernorBravo contract caps proposals at 10 actions, Uniswap Labs said two onchain votes will be posted in parallel to cover all the chains involved.

UNI is up 6.8% to $3.57 in the past 24 hrs, giving Uniswap a market capitalization of $2.2 billion, according to CoinGecko, while ETH is up almost 3%. The token remains down more than 90% from its May 2021 record of about $44.92, though it had climbed more than 40% over the past month amid the UNIfication burns and Uniswap’s expansion onto new venues.

UNIfication Rollout

The proposal follows the UNIfication overhaul, which DAO members passed in December with near-unanimous support and which turned on protocol fees and directed them toward burning UNI. It builds on four earlier fee proposals, numbered #93 through #96, and uses the same expedited governance track those proposals established.

Protocol fees are now live across all v2 and v3 pools on 11 chains: Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Celo, OP Mainnet, Soneium, X Layer, Worldchain, Zora, BNB Chain and Polygon. Uniswap Labs said the protocol set a record last month, citing the UNIBurnBot account’s report that 186,000 UNI were burned in a single day.

A New Fee System for v4

v4’s design forced a different approach. Where v2 pools carry a single static fee tier and v3 pools carry several, v4’s hooks allow potentially unlimited fee tiers, and a pool’s fee can change from one block to the next. Setting a fee on each pool individually is not workable at that scale.

To handle it, the proposal introduces a V4 Fee Controller split across two contracts. A V4FeePolicy contract computes the fee for any pool from rules that governance defines, and can be swapped out if the logic needs to change. A V4FeeAdapter contract enforces any per-pool overrides governance has set, otherwise applies the policy’s fee, pushes it to the pool and routes the proceeds to a TokenJar contract on each chain. The policy sorts each pool into a “family” based on its characteristics, then resolves the fee from the most specific applicable rule down to a global default. The contracts are published in Uniswap’s protocol-fees repository.

The temp check would switch on fees for three families: static fee pools without hooks, pools launched through Continuous Clearing Auctions, and aggregator hook pools that route external liquidity into v4. Static and CCA pools follow a curve pegged to a proportion of each pool’s LP fee. Aggregator hooks carry a flat fee with a 25x multiplier that lifts the cap to 250 basis points, set at a 10 bps family default and 3 bps for select stable pairs on most chains, and 3 bps and 1 bps respectively on Base. Uniswap Labs stressed the proposal does not enable fees on any v4 pools outside those families. As with v2 and v3, collected fees fund UNI burns, with tokens accumulated on L2s and alternative L1s bridged back to Ethereum and sent to the 0xdead address.

LP Pushback

The proposal drew immediate opposition from Guillaume Lambert, founder of the options protocol Panoptic, who disclosed he had voted “Abstain” on UNIfication and argued the fee switch should never touch v4.

“Turning on the v4 fee switch risks killing the protocol,” Lambert wrote, contending that liquidity providers are “structurally short convexity” and, by his analysis, already earn less than the volatility they take on. Taxing v4 pools without compensating LPs, he said, would leave them “nowhere to go except to other AMMs/UniV3-forks.” He said he could only support the move if LPs were directly compensated with sustained UNI incentives running “practically forever until organic activity returns.”

Not all early feedback was critical. Forum participant Abel189 backed the proposal, calling a deterministic, on-chain fee policy “a more scalable approach than configuring individual pools one by one” and praising the gradual rollout across specific families.

DOJ Seeks Dismissal of $722 Million BitClub Fraudster

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DOJ Seeks Dismissal of $722 Million BitClub Fraudster

The US Department of Justice is reportedly moving to drop charges against the founder of BitClub Network, a purported crypto mining platform that allegedly defrauded investors of $722 million between 2014 and 2019.

A court filing shows Matthew Goettsche’s attorneys wrote to New Jersey district court Judge Claire Cecchi on Wednesday, stating that the parties “reached an agreement in principle” to resolve the pending charges “but need time to finalize the terms.”

Goettsche’s attorneys’ letter to New Jersey district court Judge Claire Cecchi. Source: Bloomberg Law

The filing came after the deputy attorney general’s office in Washington reportedly ordered the New Jersey attorney general’s office to dismiss the case against Goettsche with prejudice, according to a report on Friday from Bloomberg Law, citing two sources familiar with the matter. 

Goettsche was indicted in December 2019 and was set to face trial in October for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and selling unregistered securities. A reversal would mark one of the more notable changes in US crypto enforcement history, particularly given that three of his former colleagues, Silviu Balaci, Joseph Abel and Gordon Beckstead, have pleaded guilty for their involvement in the scheme.

The potential reversal follows an April 2025 memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who directed the DOJ to end its “regulation by prosecution” strategy against the digital asset industry.

Cointelegraph reached out to the DOJ for comment but didn’t receive an immediate response.

BitClub operated from April 2014 to December 2019, claiming to be a Bitcoin mining pool where investors could buy shares and earn passive returns. BitClub allegedly falsified earnings values to investors and fabricated mining data to entice more investors into the scheme.

Related: Acting AG Todd Blanche confirms ‘code is not a crime’ in DOJ pivot 

Past court filings show Goettsche once described his model as one built “on the backs of idiots.”

DOJ is still taking down crypto’s bad actors

In April, California man Evan Tageman was sentenced to 70 months in prison for his role in a criminal enterprise that stole about $263 million worth of crypto from victims through social engineering scams and burglary. 

The DOJ also froze over $700 million in crypto tied to investment scammers targeting Americans in April, while in February, it seized nearly $580 million in crypto linked to a criminal scam group operating in Southeast Asia.

Features: Will the crypto lobby’s $189M campaign get CLARITY over the line? 

Bitcoin halving cycle history challenges $300,000–$500,000 moonshot forecasts

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Bitcoin halving cycle history challenges $300,000–$500,000 moonshot forecasts

Veteran trader Peter Brandt anticipates a peak between $300,000 and $500,000. Bernstein analysts Gautam Chhugani and Mahika Sapra expect prices to hit $500,000 by 2029, citing booming demand for spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Reality check

However, while the four-year cycles have consistently produced new all-time highs, the reality of this cycle is different.

As bitcoin grows, matures, and becomes more valuable, it takes significantly more capital to push it meaningfully higher. The track record of cycle highs proves it:

  • 2013: $266
  • 2017: nearly ~$20,000 (75x from previous high)
  • 2021: ~$69,000 (3.5x from 2017)
  • 2025: $126,000 (just 1.8x from 2021)

What this means is that bull runs are getting steadier, with more measured gains rather than moonshots. If this trend continues, the next peak may fall well short of the anticipated $300,000 to $500,000 levels. (A rally to $300,000 or more requires over 2 times the jump from the 2025 high)

This is not necessarily bad news, however.

As noted earlier, the bigger the asset becomes, the more capital is required to move it higher. And with the institutionalization of the market and an ever-increasing array of advanced risk management products, such as bitcoin ETF futures, options, volatility bets, arbitrage funds, and structured products with embedded options, BTC is naturally becoming less volatile and more Wall Street-like.

Metaplanet Announces Joint Study To Bring Bitcoin-Backed Digital Credit To Japan

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Metaplanet Announces Joint Study To Bring Bitcoin-Backed Digital Credit To Japan

Metaplanet wants to turn its bitcoin pile into a credit market. On Friday, Japan’s largest corporate bitcoin holder said it has opened a joint study with three partners to build tokenized credit products backed by bitcoin, a step that pushes the company past simple treasury accumulation and toward the role of a financial platform.

The study group brings together Metaplanet, the yen stablecoin issuer JPYC, the regulated security token platform Progmat, and Siiibo Securities, the licensed brokerage Metaplanet bought last month for 2.1 billion yen, or about $13 million. Siiibo becomes Metaplanet Securities on July 13.

The four firms will examine whether bitcoin can serve as collateral for credit instruments that pay interest each day. Metaplanet frames this as a product that exists in the United States but not in Japan. 

Digitization, the company said, would allow trading and settlement of these instruments around the clock, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with rights management at the holder level, pro-rata interest math handled in software, and redemptions recorded on a public ledger.

Bitcoin-backed credit is a young product class. Public companies that hold bitcoin use the asset as core collateral for debt offerings, and those offerings pay dividends or interest. The design takes a static coin balance and turns it into an instrument that throws off cash.

Metaplanet was blunt about how early this is. “The four companies will examine issues in product design, the need for proof-of-concept initiatives, and the possibility of future issuance,” the company said. “At this time, nothing has been determined regarding issuance timing, terms, yield, product details, distribution methods, or the form of collaboration.” 

Why Japan?

The pitch rests on a gap in Japan’s debt market. That market favors large corporations that can float public bonds. Mid-sized and growth companies face steep costs and heavy operational load around issuance, sales, investor management, interest payments, and redemptions. Many of them stay shut out.

Digital credit, in Metaplanet’s telling, could open the door to those smaller firms. Onchain infrastructure would bridge traditional capital markets and blockchain rails, cut the manual work, and give issuers a path to raise money that a public bond sale did not offer them. If it works, a growth company in Tokyo could raise debt on a system that settles at any hour and tracks every holder in code.

Each partner brings one piece. Metaplanet and its securities arm will design the products that fuse bitcoin with credit, sell them to investors, field customer questions, and manage the instruments after issuance. 

JPYC will test whether its yen-pegged stablecoin can move payments and redemptions through the system. Progmat will supply the regulated tokenization layer, which tracks ownership, processes transfers, and wires the whole thing to the stablecoin payment system.

The division of labor maps onto a full stack: an issuer and distributor with a license, a settlement asset, and a token platform.

Metaplanet’s bigger plan

The study fits a strategy the company calls Project Nova, its plan to build a bitcoin-centric financial platform in Japan. The Siiibo purchase gave Metaplanet a Type I Financial Instruments Business Operator registration, the license Japan requires to structure and sell financial products to retail investors. 

Siiibo, founded in 2019, runs an online platform for private-placement corporate bonds and has backed more than 40 issuers across 100-plus offerings. Metaplanet gains that track record, plus a shareholder base of about 250,000 investors to sell into.

Simon Gerovich, Metaplanet’s president and CEO, has cast the shift in stark terms. “We view Bitcoin not as a treasury reserve asset, but as the foundation of the next generation of financial ecosystems,” he said when the Siiibo deal was announced.

Metaplanet holds 43,000 BTC, worth about $2.47 billion. Strategy and Twenty One Capital are the two public holders ranked above it.

For the moment, the digital credit plan is a set of questions and four companies willing to study them. Whether it becomes a product depends on the proof-of-concept work that remains. But the direction is clear: Metaplanet wants its bitcoin to do more than sit on a balance sheet. It wants the coin to underwrite a market.

Sky Reports Record $419M Revenue Run-Rate for June 2026

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Sky Reports Record $419M Revenue Run-Rate for June 2026

Cumulative sUSDS yield payouts topped $250 million as Grove launched its GROVE governance token and a new Fixed Yield product crossed $44.1 million in TVL.

Sky Frontier Foundation, the entity handling reporting for the Sky Ecosystem, disclosed a record $419.08 million annualized gross revenue run-rate in its June 2026 Financial & Operational Update, published Friday. Sky, formerly MakerDAO and now a $6.12 billion-TVL lending and stablecoin protocol per DefiLlama, also reported cumulative sUSDS savings-rate yield distributions surpassing $250 million since inception.

The update, also summarized by Sky’s official X account, said the month brought “record revenue run rates” and “continued Sky Reserves growth.” Sky Reserves, the protocol’s onchain buffer asset holdings, reached $82.5 million, up $33.7 million since March, according to the forum post.

Grove, a Sky-affiliated real-world-asset initiative, launched GROVE, its native governance token, during June, the update said. Separately, Sky’s Fixed Yield product built on sUSDS crossed $44.1 million in TVL in its first month live, the report said.

DefiLlama’s own fee tracking, which counts total user-paid fees rather than Sky’s “gross revenue” framing, shows Sky generating $30.14 million in fees over the trailing 30 days, an annualized pace of roughly $367 million. That is in the same range as Sky’s self-reported $419.08 million figure.

Circle (CRCL) Wins Final OCC Approval For National Trust Bank

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Circle (CRCL) Wins Final OCC Approval For National Trust Bank

Circle Internet Group secured final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today, to establish a national trust bank, a milestone that sent the stablecoin issuer’s shares higher and deepened its ties to the federal banking system.

The regulator cleared Circle to charter First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., which will operate under the name Circle National Trust. 

The company, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CRCL, said the charter places the new entity under direct federal oversight by the OCC, the primary supervisor for national banks and national trust banks.

Circle National Trust will provide fiduciary custody services for digital assets held by Circle and its affiliates. Under the business plan the OCC approved, the bank could extend custody services to a limited set of institutional customers, with a focus on banks and regulated derivatives organizations. 

The charter opens a path for the bank to manage the reserve backing USDC, the largest regulated stablecoin, which would bring that multibillion-dollar pool under federal supervision.

National trust banks differ from traditional lenders. They safeguard client assets and provide fiduciary services, and they do not take deposits or issue loans. The structure aligns its digital-asset infrastructure with a long-standing model for holding client assets under strict fiduciary standards.

“OCC approval to establish Circle National Trust marks a defining step in bringing blockchain technology and digital assets into the core of the U.S. financial system,” said Jeremy Allaire, co-founder, chairman, and chief executive of Circle. He said federal oversight of the trust bank “sets a new standard for transparency, governance, and scale” and unlocks a phase of adoption in which large financial institutions can build on public blockchains with confidence.

Investors welcomed the decision. CRCL shares climbed as much as 14% on the day of the announcement, a rebound from a three-month low. Other crypto-linked names, including Coinbase and Strategy, posted gains near 5% this morning as bitcoin bounced.

CRCL shares have since settled to 5% gains.

Circle’s federal framework

The approval caps a process that began when Circle filed its application on June 30, 2025. The OCC granted conditional approval in December 2025, alongside peers such as Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. 

The final decision arrives as the GENIUS Act, the federal stablecoin law enacted in July 2025, moves toward full implementation in early 2027. 

That statute requires OCC supervision of large stablecoin issuers, and the trust charter positions Circle to meet the mandate while bringing USDC reserves into a federal framework.

Circle has built a record of regulatory engagement across markets. It received a BitLicense from New York in 2015, became the first global stablecoin issuer to comply with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework in 2024, and holds licenses in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Bermuda, and Abu Dhabi.

The charter strengthens USDC’s role as regulated digital-dollar infrastructure for payments, settlement, and capital markets, Circle said.

Polymarket Applies for US License to Offer Margin Trading

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Polymarket Applies for US License to Offer Margin Trading

The filing would let Polymarket users open positions without posting full collateral, following Kalshi’s FCM-backed perpetuals launch.

Polymarket has applied for a US futures commission merchant license to offer margin trading on its prediction markets, Bloomberg reported Thursday. The move would let traders open positions without posting full collateral upfront.

The application, filed July 3 with the National Futures Association through Polymarket affiliate Coming Home GBA LLC, seeks FCM registration, according to documents cited by Bloomberg. Polymarket must also win approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to amend its rulebook to permit non-fully collateralized trades, the filing shows.

A Polymarket representative confirmed to Bloomberg that the application had been submitted, with the goal of attracting more institutional investors to the platform. Under the proposed rules, users of margin products would face additional identity checks, including providing employer information, Bloomberg reported.

Following Kalshi’s Lead

The filing tracks a similar path taken by rival Kalshi, which obtained an FCM license earlier this year and subsequently launched perpetual contracts that generated more than $5.5 billion in trading volume within two weeks. Polymarket has been rebuilding its US footprint since receiving CFTC approval to operate domestically last November, following a earlier report that it had sought full CFTC sign-off for its main platform in April.

Meta’s Chief Data Officer Says Agentic Commerce is the “Next Tier of Business”

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Meta’s Chief Data Officer Says Agentic Commerce is the “Next Tier of Business”

In a wide-ranging conversation on CoinDesk Spotlight, Schultz laid out a view of Meta’s future in which agentic commerce is not a product category but an inevitability.

“We think it might be the next tier of business for our entire company,” he told host, Sam Ewen.

The Agentic Economy Is Already Here, But It’s Unevenly Distributed

Schultz framed the agentic economy the same way science fiction author William Gibson framed the future: already present, not yet mainstream.

“We are building business agents for all businesses,” he said. “We have over a million weekly active businesses with Meta agents[…] from basically nothing at the start of the year.”

The use case he outlined was deliberately mundane: coordinating a child’s birthday party. Agents booking times, checking calendars, finding venues, communicating with other parents’ agents, all on WhatsApp. The point of the mundane example is that it scales. If agents can handle low-stakes logistics, they can handle supply chain negotiations, financial settlements, and cross-border commerce.

“You write that example large,” Schultz said, “and then if you’re us, you hope that you do it over WhatsApp”

The payments layer inside that vision is stablecoins.

U.S. Representatives Urge Senate To Vote On CLARITY Act In July, Address Ethics Concerns

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U.S. Representatives Urge Senate To Vote On CLARITY Act In July, Address Ethics Concerns

Rep. French Hill wants a deadline. 

One year after the House passed the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act, the Arkansas Republican who chairs the House Financial Services Committee used a Fox Business interview with anchor Maria Bartiromo to press Senate leaders for a floor vote before the August recess.

“I’ve encouraged Senate leadership to put it on the floor,” Hill said. “I think if you schedule a floor date here in the month of July, that will cause these final meetings, these final discussions to take place. You’ve got to have a deadline in Congress to get people to move and find consensus.” 

Hill thanked Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Cynthia Lummis, John Boozman and Tim Scott for working toward a deal, and pointed to the 78 Democrats who backed the House measure a year ago.

Hill’s central argument is that the CLARITY Act would resolve the ethics concerns now used to block it, rather than deepen them. 

Critics point to President Trump’s crypto ventures, including $TRUMP meme coin licensing and World Liberty Financial token sales, which a July 1 financial disclosure tied to about $1.4 billion in 2025 income. 

Hill contends a market framework offers the transparency those critics want. 

“If we passed the CLARITY Act last summer, many of the things that people are expressing concern about — meme coin issuance, co-investment, use of exchange, investing in exchanges — all that would be under a market framework of regulation with clarity, no pun intended, and that would provide a lot of transparency to people that are concerned about the Trump family’s investments,” he said.