DEX

Ripple Prime has expanded its Hyperliquid integration to support on-chain perpetual contracts for traditional commodities, enabling institutions to trade gold, silver, and oil-linked derivatives on-chain. The update adds support for "HIP-3 symbols" and follows Ripple Prime's initial Hyperliquid integration in February 2026.

US authorities unsealed an indictment accusing Maryland resident Jonathan Spalletta of hacking Uranium Finance in April 2021 and stealing more than $54 million across two exploits. Prosecutors allege some of the funds were later used to buy collectibles such as Pokémon cards, antique Roman coins and fabric from the Wright brothers' plane, and say he faces charges that carry up to 30 years in prison.

Markets open the week with macro risk in focus as March 30 brings a scheduled Powell appearance and fresh attention on the Iran conflict alongside rising energy prices. In crypto, key dates include EthCC[9] running March 30–April 2, FTX’s fourth distribution starting March 31 for about $2.2 billion, and Based launching its token on March 30 with BASED/USDT trading set for 10:00 UTC.

Aave has deployed on OKX's Ethereum Layer-2 network, X Layer, enabling OKX Wallet users to access Aave lending markets without bridging or setting up a separate wallet. The launch uses Aave v3.6 and supports eight assets, with six Efficiency Modes that can offer up to 88% loan-to-value on select liquid staking pairs. Aave holds $23.8 billion in TVL across its deployments, while X Layer's TVL was around $25 million before the integration.

Uniswap's governance token UNI was quoted around $3.50 after a 4.5% intraday gain, while broader market recovery reignited debate over the role of centralized exchanges versus DEXs. UNI is described as consolidating in a $3.10–$3.95 band, with technicians watching levels such as $3.30 and potential resistance targets up to $4.22.

Pi Network has told Mainnet node operators to upgrade to Protocol 21.2 by April 6, 2026, warning that nodes that miss the cutoff will be disconnected. PI/USDT was trading around $0.177 on OKX in late March 2026, about 94% below its all-time high, as the project lines up additional mandatory upgrades through May.

ENA fell by a double-digit percentage over the past 24 hours to $0.089 at press time as Ethena's protocol metrics continued to soften in Q1 2026. Gross Protocol Revenue declined to $65.06 million from $96.15 million in Q4 2025, while TVL was down about $130 million since early March 2026 to around $6.66 billion and roughly $16 million was unstaked in the last 24 hours. Spot flow data, however, showed about $303,000 of net inflows in 24 hours and around $3.41 million of cumulative buying over three days, suggesting ongoing accumulation.

On March 28, Patrick Witt, executive director of the President's Council on Digital Assets, warned that blocking the CLARITY Act draft could lead to a future Democratic administration taking a tougher approach to stablecoin yield, DeFi, and crypto. Coinbase said the industry is preparing a coordinated counterproposal aimed at preserving stablecoin rewards, while other industry figures flagged separate issues around DeFi developer protections and crypto tax provisions. Coinbase's David Duong said the stablecoin-yield dispute may be resolved within three weeks, with a Senate Banking markup possible in the second half of April and final passage potentially in early May if floor time permits.

An ECB working paper analyzing Aave, MakerDAO (now Sky), Ampleforth, and Uniswap found DeFi governance power concentrated among a small set of holders and delegates, based on snapshots from November 2022 and May 2023. The study says the top 100 holders controlled more than 80% of governance tokens, while about one-third of top voters could not be identified, complicating accountability and regulatory oversight.

DeFi entering 2026 is described as moving from experimentation to infrastructure, with Total Value Locked estimated at $130–$140 billion and capital increasingly concentrating in a small set of major protocols. The piece outlines four pillars—Aave-led lending, EigenLayer restaking, yield-bearing stablecoins, and evolving DEX routing—while flagging Ethereum concentration, regulatory uncertainty, and exploit losses that reached about $2 billion in 2025.