DeFi Tokens Surge as Protocols Cash In on Revenue

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan is increasingly bullish on decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens, citing rapid growth in revenue among protocols. According to Hougan's memo 'Crypto's Revenue Revolution,' Hyperliquid uses about 99% of its fee revenue to buy and burn HYPE, while Uniswap has funded 7.5 million UNI burns through protocol fees.

Hougan argues that crypto valuations away from Bitcoin could rise as more protocols use the revenue they generate to buy their native tokens. This trend is spreading to Layer-1 networks, with Solana's SGP-0003 proposal aiming to increase its fee burn by up to 14 times and Aptos raising its gas fees tenfold earlier this year.

The shift towards revenue capture in DeFi is attributed to a friendlier U.S. regulatory system, following the conclusion of the SEC and Ripple case in August 2025 and the replacement of Gary Gensler with Paul Atkins as SEC chair.