Release Date: January 4, 2025
Author: BlockBeats Editorial Team
In the past 24 hours, the crypto market has shown a parallel evolution across multiple dimensions. Mainstream topics focus on reflections on the effectiveness of token buyback mechanisms, the definition of real revenue for protocols, and discussions on Ethereum's long-term scaling roadmap. In terms of ecological development, Solana has clearly shifted towards a narrative of "practicality and privacy," community-friendly ICOs are gaining attention, and competition in the Perp DEX track is intensifying.
I. Mainstream Topics
1. Discussion on Halting Token Buybacks
Controversy Over Jupiter Halting Token Buybacks
Siong, the founder of Jupiter Exchange, initiated a discussion on X, proposing to stop the buyback plan for JUP tokens. Over the past year, Jupiter has spent more than $70 million on buybacks, but the token price has seen little substantial improvement. Siong believes that this portion of funds should be redirected towards user growth incentives, such as new user subsidies and active user rewards, to drive ecological scale expansion.
This proposal quickly attracted community attention and linked to discussions around other projects (such as Helium halting HNT buybacks), gradually evolving into an industry-level reflection on "whether buyback mechanisms are still effective."
Community feedback is highly polarized, but most opinions do not advocate for a "complete abandonment of buybacks," instead calling for more structural reforms.
Anatoly Yakovenko (Toly) suggested converting profits into future claimable assets and providing one-year staking rewards for long-term holders to extend the fund's utility cycle and strengthen token value anchoring. Some users proposed staking incentives in the form of stablecoins (such as USDC, 25% APY) to attempt to reduce short-term selling pressure. Opponents pointed out that the fundamental reason for the weak price lies in team unlocks and continuous selling, rather than insufficient buyback efficiency. Jordi Alexander and others further proposed introducing a dynamic buyback model based on the PE ratio to avoid "buying high and inefficiently consuming" during overvaluation phases.
Overall, the gradually forming consensus in the community is that buybacks themselves are not ineffective, but under the structural conditions of a high mismatch between tokens and equity, and ongoing selling pressure, their effects are severely diluted. Some are concerned that halting buybacks will accelerate price declines, but more voices believe that prioritizing growth remains a more realistic path compared to defensive bottoming.
Discussion on HNT Halting Buybacks
Helium founder Amir announced the suspension of HNT token buybacks, citing that the market has "almost no reaction" to the project's buyback actions.
Helium and Helium Mobile generated approximately $3.4 million in revenue in October, but Amir stated that compared to continuing what is seen as "ineffective consumption" through buybacks, he prefers to invest funds in user growth, including expanding the mobile user base, increasing network base stations, and promoting carrier offload usage. It is important to note that Helium's Data Credits continue to burn to support network offload demand, but the token buyback itself has been temporarily shelved until market conditions improve.
Community divisions are evident. Critics like Foobar argue that this decision equates to admitting "not sharing revenue with token holders" and question the project's long-term commitments; others suggest exploring revenue sharing or dividend mechanisms to enhance holding incentives, but Amir responded that such designs face practical regulatory obstacles. Supporters believe that using funds for real growth rather than "throwing them into a black hole" is more pragmatic.
Some users pointed out that tokens from DePIN projects are often viewed by the market as "usage certificates" rather than equity tools, leading to their long-term systemic undervaluation; buybacks may only be effective under conditions of almost no selling pressure, otherwise, they are more of a short-term "optical effect." This discussion is frequently juxtaposed with Jupiter's proposal, becoming a typical case of "buyback mechanisms failing in a bear market."
Is "Solana Culture" Causing Buyback Ineffectiveness?
In the buyback controversies surrounding Jupiter and HNT, user Stoic Savage put forth a more radical viewpoint, arguing that the issue lies not in the buybacks themselves, but in the structural flaws of the Solana ecosystem. He described Solana as a highly "internalized" ecosystem, where internal trading, team unlocks, and extractive token economics continuously offset any positive impact that buybacks could bring.
This statement resonated strongly within the community, with many agreeing that the Solana ecosystem faces long-term issues of "moral bankruptcy" and "insider priority," believing that buybacks are almost doomed to fail in such an environment. However, some users opposed attributing the failure of buybacks solely to the mechanism itself, pointing out that Solana's problems stem more from high emissions, frequent unlocks, and team selling, rather than an inherently ineffective buyback logic. Critics like Wow Im Farming argued that some founders turning to buyback narratives are merely masking deeper token design flaws.
Overall sentiment leans towards pessimism, with some users beginning to use ecosystems like Hyperliquid as comparative cases, emphasizing that "buybacks can only have real value in the absence of structural selling pressure."
2. Controversy Over DEX Revenue Data Comparisons
Hayden Adams publicly criticized Aerodrome's revenue data as misleading: Aerodrome counts 100% of LP fees as "protocol revenue," then returns it to LPs through token emissions, significantly inflating reported income. Data shows that Aerodrome recorded about $434 million in "revenue" last year, but during the same period, it needed to pay about $800 million in incentive costs.
In contrast, Uniswap adopts a more conservative strategy, extracting only a small amount of protocol fees (averaging about $60,000 per day), emphasizing long-term sustainability rather than short-term optical numbers. Tervelix referred to Aerodrome's revenue as an "illusion," noting that it is closer to gross revenue, while Uniswap resembles a net profit model, with LP earnings directly derived from real fees rather than token dilution.
Aerodrome supporters countered that Uniswap Labs itself relies on about $120 million in token emissions to maintain operations, effectively also diluting holders; they also pointed out that Uniswap's early investments were substantial, and it has long been in a "high cost, low revenue" state.
The Uniswap camp emphasized that its model is closer to infrastructure logic, where LPs can earn returns without relying on subsidies, making it suitable for long-term existence; whereas Aerodrome resembles "renting TVL," facing the risk of rapid liquidity loss once incentives stop.
Overall consensus is gradually becoming clear:
Aerodrome is more "friendly" to current holders, but the risks of inflation and incentive dependence are significant;
Uniswap grows at a slower pace, but its model is closer to long-term infrastructure.
The discussion then expanded to other DEXs like Meteora and Jupiter, raising more questions about fee metrics and the definition of "real revenue."
3. Vitalik's Outlook for 2026
Vitalik Buterin published a New Year long post, reviewing key developments for Ethereum in 2025, including gas limit increases, zkEVM performance breakthroughs, and improvements in PeerDAS for data availability. However, he also emphasized that Ethereum still needs to continue advancing in terms of usability and decentralization.
Vitalik reiterated Ethereum's positioning as a "world computer," with its core goal being to build an application system that does not rely on trust, is censorship-resistant, and is not subject to third-party interference, emphasizing the importance of privacy protection and "leave-it-to-test" (i.e., the system can still operate after developers disappear). He described Ethereum as a "rebellion" against the trend of subscription-based platforms, focusing on serving foundational layers such as finance, identity, and governance.
Community response has been positive. Gabriel Shapiro and others expressed gratitude for Vitalik's adherence to cyberpunk values; the Milady meme has once again gained popularity, becoming a cultural response.
However, differing voices have emerged, such as Richard Heart promoting PulseChain, emphasizing the decentralization advantages of independent chains; other discussions suggest that chains like ICP have potential in "full-chain applications."
Some users pointed out that Ethereum's success is also inseparable from the cultural and liquidity foundation brought by meme assets (like $PEPE). Overall sentiment is somewhat optimistic, but there are calls to further promote decentralization at the application layer, especially regarding front-end censorship resistance. Rip.eth and others summarized: "Ethereum is essentially still a rebellion."
II. Mainstream Ecological Dynamics
Solana: 2026 Ecological Focus
Solana Stream released its 2026 ecological outlook for Solana, clearly shifting the growth focus from speculation to practicality-driven initiatives. The report indicates that multiple upgrades are about to land, with stablecoin and RWA scales reaching historic highs, and ETF-related capital inflows along with a series of catalysts are accumulating and fermenting.
The core narrative is broken down into six directions:
Payments and Stablecoins: USDC, PYUSD, etc., focusing on cross-border remittances and e-commerce payments.
RWA Tokenization: Participation from institutions like Ondo Finance and BlackRock, emphasizing compliance and institutional capital.
AI Agents and Autonomous Finance: Nosana, io.net, supporting low-latency AI inference and computing power scheduling.
Privacy Infrastructure: Arcium, Umbra, building privacy capabilities through ZK and confidential computing.
Prediction Markets: Kalshi, Drift, serving as real-time information infrastructure.
x402 Micropayment Protocol: Proposed by Coinbase for programmatic and machine payments.
The overall goal is clear: to drive Solana from a "transaction and speculation-driven" model to an "executable application network," positioning 2026 as the year of execution.
The community generally highly recognizes this practicality-oriented approach. Users like cryptod0n view privacy as the most core narrative for 2026, forming a clear "privacy stack" around projects like Arcium and Magicblock. Discussions also extend to cross-chain interoperability (e.g., Base–Solana connected through Chainlink), which is believed to potentially introduce billions of dollars in DeFi liquidity.
Overall sentiment is optimistic. Some users (like ray) reflect on the achievements of 2025—stablecoin supply growing to about $16 billion, Visa settlements landing—believing that 2026 feels more like a continuation rather than a reversal. Privacy-related projects receive the most interaction, with ZeraLabs, Nulltrace, and others being continuously added. The gradually forming consensus is that Solana is transitioning from the "fastest chain" to a "private and practical chain." A few voices remind that structural issues like high emissions still need to be addressed, but this does not affect the overall bullish judgment.
MetaDAO New ICO: Ranger Finance
MetaDAO announced that its latest ICO project, Ranger Finance, will take place from January 6 to 10, 2026, with a fundraising target of $6 to $8 million.
The token distribution structure emphasizes "user priority": 39.02 million RNGR tokens (39.02% of total supply) will be allocated in the ICO, with 100% unlocked at TGE; team and investor tokens will have 0% unlocked at TGE, with an 18-month lock-up period and price milestones of 2x to 32x; ambassadors will have 50% unlocked at TGE, with the remaining released linearly over 6 months; Ranger points holders will have exclusive allocation pools; any oversubscribed funds will be used to support buy walls for 90 days; Ranger is positioned as a DeFi command center, integrating multi-chain liquidity, automated strategies, and cross-chain execution capabilities. This ICO also marks MetaDAO's first handling of a project with an existing VC financing background.
Market feedback is significantly positive. Users like sacha believe that the structure strikes a balance between financing efficiency and holder trust, with the founding team being rated as "S-tier." Discussions focus on two advantages: the public unlocking before VCs and the team, and the priority of points holders.
Some users (like Bumblebee) anticipate a significant oversubscription, drawing parallels to previous MetaDAO projects, believing that the total commitment could approach or even exceed $100 million; related bets on Polymarket are active. A few concerns center around the point-to-distribution mechanism and the actual utility of the tokens, but the overall consensus is that this ICO sets a new benchmark for community-friendly issuance, with MetaDAO seen as a representative of the "ownership supercycle."
Privacy Projects on Solana
Solana Sensei released a 2026 privacy narrative outlook, systematically outlining the landscape of privacy projects on Solana, covering multiple aspects such as communication, transactions, payments, and computing, including Arcium, Umbra, Magicblock, Nulltrace, PrivacyCash, and Offgridcash.
The report emphasizes that privacy is shifting from a marginal feature to a default attribute, with ZK and confidential computing becoming long-term moats.
Community response is highly concentrated, with a general consensus that privacy is the most certain main narrative for Solana in 2026. Fitzy views ZeraLabs as a potential major entry point, while Moonwave Master emphasizes Beldex's infrastructure-level privacy capabilities.
Disagreements mainly revolve around "native privacy chains vs. layered privacy modules." Some users prefer plug-and-play shielded transaction solutions, while others value system-level anonymity tools like Nulltrace and IP isolation. The overall consensus is shifting towards Solana transitioning from a criticized "internalized ecosystem" to a "privacy by default" technical route. Although a few express concerns about a "dark web label," the mainstream view is that this is an inevitable result driven by demand.
Ethereum: Vitalik on ZK-EVM and PeerDAS
Vitalik Buterin published a detailed explanation of the combination of ZK-EVM (Alpha stage, performance close to production but still requiring security work) and PeerDAS (now live on the mainnet), aiming to push Ethereum towards a high-bandwidth, decentralized consensus execution network.
He views this solution as a breakthrough for the "trilemma":
Transitioning from Bitcoin's low-bandwidth strong consensus and BitTorrent's high-bandwidth weak consensus to a combination of both.
The roadmap includes:
2026: ZK-EVM node operation, gas limit increase
2026–2028: Gas repricing and state structure adjustments
2027–2030: Further scaling, with ZK-EVM becoming the main validation method
He also emphasizes distributed block construction to reduce centralized intervention and enhance geographical fairness.
Community sentiment is overall high. Nikolai Kotsofane sees it as a paradigm shift from the "settlement layer" to the "execution network." Discussion focuses on the synergistic effects of PeerDAS enhancing data capacity and ZK-EVM reducing redundant computations.
Optimists believe that DeFi and blockchain gaming may experience structural changes, but there is a general emphasis that security remains a core constraint; there are also voices concerned about the pace of decentralization in block construction. The overall consensus is that this is an important realization of a ten-year roadmap, with 2026–2030 being a comprehensive expansion period for Ethereum.
Ethena DAT: S-4 Amendment
On December 29, Ethena DAT submitted the S-4 amendment. The document shows that although ENA enjoys about a 30% discount in the token purchase agreement, the structure will ultimately exit SPAC, and most ENA will remain in an unrealized loss state during the ownership period in the coming years.
Community feedback is noticeably negative. Smac bluntly stated "uh oh," and D2 Finance criticized the weak PIPE signals, believing that SPAC promoters are more focused on completing the transaction rather than long-term quality. Discussions center on the complexity of accounting rules (related party transactions triggering GAAP impairments) and insufficient structural transparency; some users question the management background of the former Celsius CFO.
The overall judgment is that the structure is complex, with regulatory and accounting constraints compounding, leading to significantly higher risks. Although some suggest supplementing with non-standard metrics like mNAV, there are widespread concerns that retail investors may find it difficult to understand, resulting in an overall bearish sentiment.
Perp DEX: Extended Short-Term Revenue Surpasses Lighter
Blur data shows that Extended briefly surpassed Lighter in 24-hour revenue, setting a new high of approximately $200 million in perpetual contract trading volume. Since its public launch in December 2024, its 24-hour trading volume has risen to about $1.4 billion, with a TVL of $133 million and open contracts of $197 million. During the same period, Variational's cumulative trading volume reached $2.6 billion, with open contracts of $646 million.
Market sentiment is exuberant. Laxo believes it is still "underpriced," while lyonzzzz emphasizes multiple ATHs in trading volume, OI, TVL, and fees, believing that seasonal incentives have yet to kick in. The overall judgment is that Extended and Variational are becoming core players in the new generation of Perp DEXs, with a few users comparing it to Hyperliquid and Aster, believing Extended has greater long-term potential.
Others: MegaETH 2025 Investor Memorandum
The co-founder of MegaETH released the 2025 investor memorandum, reviewing progress from the seed round to the testnet, with cumulative financing of about $150 million, and launching Fluffle, Echo, and public sale mechanisms. Technical highlights include real-time EVM, approximately 100,000 TPS, and sub-millisecond latency.
Plans for 2026 include mainnet launch, TGE, and expanding real-time applications in gaming and DeFi, while continuing to emphasize transparency and community priority.
Overall feedback is positive. Users generally appreciate its long-term communication and self-reflection, believing that 2026 will be the year of MegaETH's mainnet acceleration and application realization; test experience sharing is mostly focused on sub-10ms latency and production-level performance.
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