Uniswap Protocol on Base posts third consecutive monthly volume ATH in January 2025

Uniswap Protocol recorded a monthly high trading volume of $15.65 billion on the Base network in January 2025. This makes it the third consecutive time Uniswap’s monthly trading volume on the Base network hit an all-time high. 

It also recorded all-time highs in November and December 2024. Overall, Uniswap has processed over $1 trillion in total trading volume, which makes it one of the largest DEXs in the world. 

What Uniswap users are doing on Base 

The monthly transaction volume on the Uniswap DEX on Coinbase’s native network, Base hit an all-time high for the third month in a row. 

According to data on the Uniswap interface on Base, memecoins, AI agents, and cbBTC are the hottest assets. Memes are one of the top-performing assets this cycle, and while Solana remains the home for risk-tolerant traders, Base also posts steady numbers in those regards. It also benefits from the intersection between the AI agent and memecoin narratives.

For example, one of the top-performing tokens for the month, Virtual Protocol’s VIRTUAL, which is currently trading at $2.05, posted a monthly volume of $6.6 billion and an all-time volume of $12.2 billion. 

VIRTUAL is sandwiched between Ethereum and USDC, two tokens that enable DeFi activity on Base. 

USDC is currently enjoying a monopoly of volume on the network because Coinbase delisted USDT in Europe to comply with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations. Its trading volume for the month came in at $5.5 billion, with an FDC of $53.1 billion. 

Tether’s USDT had a notably bad January, with less than $59 million in trading volume for the entire month. 

Aside from memes and AI agent tokens, users on Uniswap have also been heavily involved with Coinbase Wrapped Bitcoin (cbBTC). Coinbase built cbBTC to be compatible with DeFi applications to allow customers to participate and unlock the financial utility in dApps. cbBTC holds $2.4 billion in FDV with a volume of $695.95 million

Another AI token to feature high on the list is aixbt by Virtuals (AIXBT) with a $603 million trading volume month.  

Uniswap’s activity contributed to a strong month for Base

Uniswap’s increased trading volume in the past couple of months has contributed to Base’s growth and the network’s recent liveliness. The chain carries over 500 decentralized apps, and activity on the tokenless chain expanded to over 2M daily active users this January. 

Base may have started out as a chain for fun NFT and meme experiments, but it has clearly matured and is now moving forward with DeFi, evidenced by the strong performance of cbBTC. 

Aerodrome, Morpho Blue, and Uniswap are some of the top apps on Base. Morpho grew after it was promoted as a source for crypto-backed loans. The app allows Coinbase users to borrow against Bitcoin (BTC) collateral.

Another factor boosting Base was its integration into Phantom Wallet, which was instrumental to onboarding more new users in the last quarter of 2024. 

Base carries about $3.5 billion in total value locked (TVL), and the network posted close to $20 billion in volume for the entire month. Still, it remains a fair distance behind Solana, another network that posted record-breaking numbers throughout January. 

Uniswap first appeared on the scene in November 2018 and quickly gained traction in the decentralized finance space. It was a beneficiary of the bull run that came later in 2021. 

By that time, Uniswap had processed over 50 million transactions. In 2022, the platform remained steady despite bear market conditions. In 2023, Uniswap processed less than 180 million transactions, but it set a new record by processing over 300 million transactions in 2024. 

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