Those paying attention to the crypto bull run beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum may have noticed that DeFi infrastructure tokens are doing exceptionally well, often far outpacing the big two in growth. $HYPE’s blasting right into the Top 30 of tokens is reminiscent of the original DeFI Summer. All signs are pointing at DeFi Summer 2.0 — Winter Edition. But with $HYPE already pumped so high, what other DEX plays are there that can follow its trajectory?
$CRV
$CRV is the token of Curve Finance, the oldest, biggest, most secure, and most respected DEX with a TVL of over $2 billion. But Curve is not resting on past laurels, instead actively partnering with some of the fastest growing blockchains like TON. Together, they are developing CFMM (Constant Functional Market Maker) — a mechanism to efficiently trade similar assets (e.g. stablecoins and Bitcoin derivatives) with minimal price impact.
During the long bear market, $CRV fell along with all other tokens but was clearly oversold. Already, it has bounced by over 200% from the bottom but still has ways to go before hitting the high of the previous bull run. And since each top of the cycle tends to set a much higher high than the previous one, even an amateur chart drawer can figure out where $CRV could be heading.
$EYWA
$EYWA is the governance token of EYWA, one of the top projects in Curve’s ecosystem, one that has already raised over $8.5M in investment. The Project has Curve’s founder as its lead investor and very impressive traction for its DeFiLlama Top 10 regular CrossCurve DEX, which boasts $1.85 billion in trading volume, over $21 million in TVL, and 3.5+ million transactions. CrossCurve solves the liquidity fragmentation problem by eliminating the need to establish a liquidity pool on every chain, instead letting projects list crosschain — immediately getting access to 16 chains and making attracting liquidity much cheaper and simultaneously more worthwhile for liquidity providers themselves. History was made when $UNIT0 from Units Blockchain became the first CrossCurve crosschain listing, with instant ETH and stablecoin liquidity on many chains.
EYWA is attracting strong partnerships from the likes of the TON and Sonic foundations. The $EYWA token itself is getting listed on December 20th on KuCoin, Gate.io, and MEXC — and then it’s off to the races.
AERO
The Base Layer 2 chain has long stepped out of the shadow of Coinbase to become a powerful ecosystem bringing the world onchain. Its peak 7-day volume has surpassed $1B, and it keeps attracting new projects and value. Aerodrome Finance is the top DEX on Base, and its explosion in volume has not gone unnoticed in the $AERO token’s price. Aerodrome is already the 6th largest DEX by TVL with $1.8B. And the way Base adoption is growing, $AERO’s recent ATH may soon look like a distant low.
RAY
Everyone paying attention to Solana in the last couple of years knows two narratives: Solana vs Ethereum and Solana as the home of memecoins. Both are very bullish for one of Solana’s two main DEXs — Raydium. $RAY’s 47x from an ATL a year ago may feel like a missed opportunity. Yet, it’s only ⅓ of $REY’s ATH made back in 2021. Just like with CRV, this market is likely to see a new high for $RAY that may leave its previous achievement in the dust.
Conclusion
Of course, nobody knows the future, least of all when it comes to crypto prices. Still, the bull cycle caused by the halving every 4 years has so far worked like clockwork in its general trends. When trading, one should study the past and try his best to project that into the future. Trends can change swiftly and be replaced by new ones. But blockchains will very likely continue to rely on DEXs to process the massive volume of bull market transactions whatever the trend driving them is.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.