ETF Expansion - Amplify ETFs targeting stablecoin and tokenization sectors open for trade.

Liquidity Cushion - Strategy's increased dollar buffer covers more than 2 years of dividend obligations.

Aave Slumps - Aave falls 18% over week as dispute pulls down token deeper than major crypto tokens.

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Messari’s latest Unqualified Opinions episode breaks down DeFi’s choppy 2025 and what’s most likely to define 2026—through the lens of Messari Enterprise Research and alumni now investing/building across the space. The group argues perps are becoming a mainstream trading primitive, with equity perps poised as a potential S-tier narrative as onchain venues offer 24/7 access and high-leverage directional exposure.

They also unpack the next phase for prediction markets—including looming skepticism around volumes and the need to attract “real” traders—plus the evolution of political markets and governance experimentation. Finally, they examine yield-bearing stablecoins as “spendable funds,” and close with a pragmatic outlook on where DeFi activity and product-market fit may concentrate in 2026—tying directly into Messari’s newly published 2026 Crypto Theses report. 

Watch the full conversation on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple.

For a limited time, get 26% off your first year of Messari Enterprise with code THESES26.

Messari's protocol reports give you a deep dive on the foundation and state of top crypto protocols, including key metrics and notable events. See the complete list of protocol reports here and get a preview of our latest report below.

For years, token holders and protocols have operated under an implicit expectation of alignment. In the previous era of hostile regulation, returning value to token holders was a legal risk that protocols simply couldn’t justify. With the SEC's crusade against DeFi, any action suggesting an "expectation of profit" risked a lawsuit that could jeopardize the protocol and land its founders in jail. Consequently, many projects split into dual entities: a DAO-governed token entity and a private equity entity that accrued value from commercial ventures. Token holders generally accepted this arrangement, with an unspoken agreement that this economic separation would dissolve once a more favorable regulatory environment emerged. Now that we have entered that more benign era, this implicit social contract is being put to the test.

Throughout 2025, the industry has seen a spectrum of outcomes regarding tokenholder rights. The core of the issue is simple: who is the ultimate beneficiary of a protocol's success? 

A prime example of positive alignment occurred on November 10, when Uniswap founder Hayden Adams proposed the UNIfication Proposal. This move aims to align Uniswap’s dual entities, ensuring that all value accrues to tokenholders.

However, other resolutions have been less favorable. Circle’s acquisition of the Axelar development team (Interop Labs), along with its intellectual property, stands as a recent example where token holders were sidelined (to put it nicely) in favor of equity interests.

Aave is the latest protocol put to the test. Tensions surfaced in early December when Aave Labs began directing front-end fees from a new CoW Swap integration toward itself rather than the DAO. This move, stealthily executed without prior governance consultation, sparked an intense debate when it surfaced publicly. Token holders argued that Aave Labs was extracting value that belonged to the ecosystem, while Aave Labs maintained that the interface is a private product sitting entirely outside the protocol.

This conflict escalated on December 16 with a proposal by Ernesto Boado (former Aave Labs CTO and co-founder of BGD Labs) to transfer control of Aave’s brand assets to the DAO. The proposal aims to ensure that the Aave brand and its primary user gateways are owned by $AAVE holders rather than any private service provider. If passed, the DAO would control these assets through a legal entity equipped with robust anti-capture protections. These rights would include:

On December 21, Aave Labs CEO Stani Kulechov fast-tracked this proposal from the "Aave Request for Comment" (ARFC) stage directly to a Snapshot vote. Critics, including the proposal’s author, contend that this escalation was premature, forcing a definitive vote on a concept that, while directionally sound, was not yet ready for technical or legal implementation. In contrast, Aave Labs representatives justified the move by claiming the community had reached a point of exhaustion following the extensive and contentious deliberation. 

The outcome of this proposal will have major second- and third-order effects on the evolution of DAO governance and the broader crypto ecosystem. Stay tuned for our upcoming Enterprise Note, where we’ll explore these consequences in greater depth, alongside our opinionated analysis of the situation.