Weekly Recap: Uniswap Moves Toward Fee Switch, Coinbase Revives Token Sales

How the x402 Standard Is Enabling AI Agents to Pay Each Other

Agentic commerce is coming fast. x402 is the standard trying to power it.

For decades, the internet has worked without a native way to pay for things. Credit cards were bolted on, platforms built their own integrations, and developers had to stitch together complex payment flows to charge even a few cents for anything.

But with AI agents now making requests, triggering actions, and needing to pay for data or services instantly, that old patchwork is starting to break.

In this episode, Laura Shin speaks with Erik Reppel, Head of Engineering for Coinbase’s Developer Platform, and Sam Ragsdale, founder of Merit Systems, about x402, a new open standard for internet-native payments designed for the AI era.

They discuss why AI has revived a decades-old idea, how x402 works under the hood, why devs say the experience is simpler than traditional payments, and how stablecoins make microtransactions economically viable. They also dive into the big debates: no chargebacks, chain-agnostic design, the shift to a foundation, and how this standard could eventually work with fiat as well.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Now, let’s get into this week’s news! In today’s edition:

• 🧨 Uniswap Eyes Major Overhaul — Fee switch push and a massive UNI burn proposal

• 🚀 Coinbase Reopens Token Sales — U.S. retail gets access again through a new launch platform

• 🏛️ Senate Drops Crypto Draft — CFTC and SEC outline the future of spot market oversight

• ⚠️ Hyperliquid Locks Down — Popcat leveraged trades trigger emergency bridge halt

• 🌉 Aero Plans Cross Chain Merge — Aerodrome and Velodrome unite under one umbrella

• 🪙 Circle Considers New Arc Token — Potential asset tied to its expanding L1 ecosystem

• 📈 Polymarket Tiptoes Back to U.S. — Quiet beta rollout after clearing past regulatory issues

• 🐉 China Claims U.S. Seized $13B in BTC — Allegations reignite mystery around 2020 mining pool hack

• 💸 Coinbase Walks From BVNK Deal — Ends talks on a potential $2 billion acquisition

• ⚡ MEV Case Ends in Mistrial — Jury deadlocks in landmark Ethereum exploit trial

Uniswap Proposes Fee Switch and $800 Million Token Burn in Major Overhaul

Uniswap leaders have unveiled a sweeping proposal that would activate long discussed protocol fees and introduce a large scale UNI token burn. The plan would route a share of swap fees into a “token jar,” allowing users to burn UNI and withdraw an equivalent amount of crypto, reducing supply while tying the token more closely to the protocol’s revenue.

The proposal also calls for retroactively burning nearly 100 million UNI, worth about $800 million, representing fees that would have been captured had this mechanism existed since launch. It is backed by Uniswap Labs, the Uniswap Foundation, and founder Hayden Adams. “Labs has been unable to meaningfully participate in Uniswap governance… that ends today,” Adams wrote.

If approved, the Foundation would eventually wind down, with most responsibilities shifting to Uniswap Labs. Additional features include MEV discount auctions, “aggregator hooks” for v4, and an end to Labs’ front end interface fees.

Coinbase Reopens U.S. Retail Access to Token Sales With New Launch Platform

Coinbase has introduced a public token sales platform that will allow everyday investors worldwide, including those in the U.S., to join token launches for the first time since the 2018 ICO crackdown. The first sale will feature Monad’s MON token from Nov. 17 to Nov. 22, ahead of the project’s mainnet release on Nov. 24.

“Token launches needed a change. So we built it,” the exchange said, emphasizing a design meant to avoid first come dynamics. Coinbase is using a “filling up from the bottom” allocation model to broaden distribution and limit concentration among large buyers. Users who rapidly sell their tokens may see reduced allocations in future launches.

Coinbase requires issuers to provide detailed project disclosures and enforces a six month lockup on token sales by teams and affiliates. The platform follows last month’s $375 million acquisition of Echo, though Coinbase said the new marketplace operates separately. The company expects to host about one sale per month, with purchases made in USDC.

Senate Agriculture Committee Releases Draft Crypto Market Structure Bill

The Senate Agriculture Committee has published a draft of its digital asset market structure bill, marking a key step toward the Senate’s version of the House-passed Clarity Act. The text, led by Chair John Boozman and Senator Cory Booker, outlines how the Commodity Futures Trading Commission would oversee spot crypto markets and where its authority would intersect with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The draft defines core terms such as “blockchain,” directs the CFTC and SEC to issue joint rules, and classifies major assets like bitcoin and ether as “digital commodities.” Several sections remain bracketed, signaling unresolved questions including how to address decentralized finance. Committee staff worked through the weekend to finalize the draft even as Congress negotiated to end the government shutdown.

The legislation faces a long path. It must be reconciled with the Senate Banking Committee’s own draft before either panel can advance a final bill. Industry groups said the document offers the clearest view yet of the regulatory framework taking shape.

On Unchained’s new show DEX in the City, crypto lawyer Vy Le said she doesn’t expect a market structure bill to pass until 2027.

Hyperliquid Activates Emergency Lock After Popcat Trades Trigger Vault Loss

Hyperliquid briefly paused Arbitrum based deposits and withdrawals on Wednesday after a trader’s leveraged positions in the Popcat memecoin triggered significant losses for the exchange’s community owned vault. The platform’s Arbitrum bridge activated its “EmergencyLock” function as the issue unfolded, according to onchain data.

A series of trades tied to an individual who split $3 million across nineteen wallets resulted in more than $20 million in long Popcat positions. Those accounts were later liquidated as the token’s price fell, leaving the vault with nearly $5 million in losses. Blockchain analytics firm Arkham described the activity as “passing $5 million of bad debt” to Hyperliquid’s liquidity provider.

Hyperliquid halted transfers to manually close the position, a step developer Iliensinc said was necessary while the team confirmed system stability. “The Arbitrum bridge’s automatic locking was triggered by a conservative set of conditions, and the bridge was unlocked after the situation was thoroughly investigated within around twenty five minutes,” they said on Discord.

Normal withdrawals resumed soon after, and Hyperliquid said the blockchain itself remained unaffected.

Aero Platform Aims to Merge Two Major DEXs Into One Cross Chain Hub

The team behind Aerodrome on Base and Velodrome on Optimism is preparing to merge both exchanges into a single platform called Aero. The project comes from the group now formally identified as Dromos Labs, the developer overseeing both DEXs, which together handle hundreds of millions in liquidity across the EVM ecosystem.

Aero is designed as a central liquidity hub that will first expand to Ethereum mainnet and Circle’s Arc chain. “Aerodrome has been successful on Base and is excited to expand to effectively service other Ethereum networks via Aero,” CEO Alexander Cutler said. Executive director Luis de la Cerda added that Aero’s unified token will “serve as a claim on the productive capacity” of the platform.

The launch is paired with MetaDEX 03, an upgraded operating system that introduces Slipstream V3 for capturing MEV related value and MetaSwaps for cross chain trades. CFO Dan Wick said the new architecture could lift revenues by 40 percent while cutting costs by $34 million.

Circle Weighs New Token for Arc Network as Q3 Results Beat Expectations

Circle, the issuer of the $73.7 billion USDC stablecoin, said it is “exploring the possibility” of launching a new token tied to Arc, its stablecoin focused layer 1 blockchain. The company said the asset would help “align the interests of Arc stakeholders” as adoption grows.

Arc debuted in August and opened its public testnet in October, drawing more than 100 participants including BlackRock, Amazon Web Services, and Standard Chartered. The potential token would support Circle’s push to bring more programmable finance onchain.

The announcement came alongside strong third quarter earnings. Circle reported $740 million in total revenue and reserve income, up 66 percent from last year, and $214 million in net income. USDC circulation rose 108 percent year over year as reserve income climbed to $711 million.

“We made huge progress delivering platforms for the world’s leading startups and financial firms,” CEO Jeremy Allaire said, noting accelerating demand for USDC across payments and market infrastructure.

Polymarket Quietly Reenters US Market With Beta Rollout

Polymarket has begun live testing its US exchange, marking its first steps back into the American market since resolving regulatory issues three years ago. Founder Shayne Coplan said the platform is “actually live and operational,” with select users already onboarding and placing real trades as part of a controlled beta.

The relaunch follows Polymarket’s move offshore and a $1.4 million penalty paid to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2022. With investigations from both the CFTC and the Justice Department now closed, the company acquired QCX, a CFTC authorized exchange and clearinghouse, allowing it to operate legally in the US. “It’s the fastest anyone has ever gotten to market,” Coplan said at a conference in Miami.

Polymarket also announced a new partnership with Yahoo Finance, which will integrate its probability data into a dedicated prediction markets hub launching in the coming months. The predictions platform teamed up with fantasy sports app PrizePicks to let users buy event-based contracts, combining prediction markets with fantasy gaming to reach new U.S. states and attract more players.

China Alleges US Seized $13 Billion in Bitcoin Linked to 2020 Mining Pool Hack

China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center is reportedly accusing the US government of taking possession of 127,000 bitcoin originally stolen from the LuBian mining pool in 2020. The stash, worth about $13 billion, was tied at the time to Chen Zhi, chairman of Cambodia’s Prince Group, who now faces US charges for alleged crypto fraud.

In a technical report summarized by the state owned Global Times, CVERC said the 2020 intrusion appeared to involve a “state level hacking organization.” The coins sat dormant for nearly four years before being transferred in mid 2024 to wallets later identified by Arkham as belonging to the US government.

CVERC argues the seizure may have been part of a longer operation involving the same attackers. The US Department of Justice disputes that account, maintaining the bitcoin was lawfully confiscated as criminal proceeds. Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic noted in a recent report that “it remains unclear” how the funds ultimately entered US custody.

Coinbase Walks Away From $2 Billion Bid for Stablecoin Firm BVNK

Coinbase confirmed it is no longer pursuing its planned acquisition of BVNK, a U.K. based stablecoin infrastructure startup, ending what had been one of the sector’s largest prospective deals. “After discussing a potential acquisition of BVNK, both parties mutually agreed to not move forward,” a Coinbase spokesperson told Fortune.

Talks had advanced into due diligence and an exclusivity period in October, according to reports, with the transaction valued at roughly $2 billion. Coinbase Ventures is already an investor in BVNK, which focuses on stablecoin payments and cross border settlement tools.

The proposed deal would have significantly expanded Coinbase’s stablecoin capabilities and followed other major moves in the space, including Stripe’s $1.1 billion purchase of Bridge. BVNK did not respond to requests for comment.

Mistrial Halts Case Against Brothers Accused of $25 Million MEV Exploit

A federal judge has declared a mistrial in the case of Anton and James Peraire-Bueno, two brothers charged with wire fraud and money laundering over an alleged $25 million exploit on Ethereum. Jurors said they were exhausted, divided, and unable to reach a unanimous verdict after three days of deliberation.

Prosecutors claimed the pair carried out “the very first exploit of its kind” by abusing their positions as Ethereum validators to access private transactions and reorder a block for profit. The defense countered that the action fell within Ethereum’s own mechanics, likening it to “stealing a base in baseball” rather than committing fraud.

The deadlock has fueled debate over whether maximal extractable value tactics should be criminalized. 

On Unchained’s new show DEX in the City, crypto lawyer Jessi Brooks explained why this case was important and why she felt it’s not wise to leave crypto’s future in the hands of 12 inexperienced jurors. 

Watch the weekly recap on YouTube!