Uniswap’s native token UNI saw strong gains on Friday, February 23rd. The main catalyst behind Uniswap’s 70% price increase was the decentralized exchange changing its fee mechanism to benefit those staking UNI tokens.
The proposal advocates the introduction of a fee-sharing system that incentivizes UNI holders to stake and delegate their tokens, thus enhancing participation and activity within the governance ecosystem.
Uniswap price rise ignites DeFi frenzy
On-chain data provider Santiment highlights the shift in focus from the artificial intelligence craze to the booming decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.
According to Santiment, assets that facilitate decentralized lending and cryptocurrency trading, such as $UNI, $COMP, $SUSHI, and $AAVE, have grown significantly in value. The spike in value follows a key proposal within the Uniswap ecosystem to reward staking and delegated token holders.
The growing prominence of DeFi protocols highlights growing investor interest in decentralized financial solutions, diverting attention from the previously much-hyped field of artificial intelligence.
Other DeFi protocols have also seen significant growth in transaction volume. For example, COMP price increased and trading volume jumped 411% to over $175 million. Likewise, the price of SushiSwap (SUSHI) surged by 27%, while trading volume jumped by 153%.
Some cryptocurrency market analysts also believe that other DeFi protocols such as Blur and Lido Finance may follow in the footsteps of Uniswap’s fee-sharing proposal.
AI currency plummets
Recent market trends show that decentralized finance (DeFi) assets have grown significantly, while the value of AI coins has correspondingly declined, marking a significant capital rotation in the cryptocurrency market.
Analysts have observed a clear shift in investor sentiment as interest in DeFi protocols heats up, leading to an increase in investment flows. Conversely, the value of assets related to artificial intelligence (AI) is declining, indicating a reallocation of capital among investors. At press time, some of the top AI coins such as Worldcoin (WLD), Render (RNDR), and Graph (GRT) were trading at a loss.
