Gate DeFi Daily ( October 16 ): Meteora TGE mechanism disclosure; ZEROBASE Airdrop is about to start.

On October 16, the crypto market faced overall pressure, with Bitcoin (BTC) fluctuating around $110,000, and Ethereum (ETH) hovering in the $4,000 range. Affected by market weakness, the total locked value (TVL) in DeFi across the network dropped to $154.649 billion, falling 1.96% in 24 hours. The trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEX) was approximately $22.336 billion, slightly decreasing month-on-month, but Uniswap, PancakeSwap, and Meteora remained highly active, indicating that market liquidity has not significantly shrunk. Mainstream protocols Lido, Aave, and EigenLayer recorded declines of around 2%, while the Ethereum ecosystem project Ethena showed relative resilience. Overall, although the market is under short-term pressure, various project developments (such as the Lighter token economic model, Meteora TGE, and ZEROBASE Airdrop) inject potential favourable expectations into the ecosystem.

DeFi Market Overview

(Source: DeFiLlama)

Total DeFi TVL across the network: Today (October 16), the crypto market is performing poorly, with BTC currently trading around $110,000 and ETH hovering in the $4,000 range; the total DeFi TVL across the network is currently $154.649 billion, down 1.96% in the last 24 hours.

DEX 24-hour volume: approximately 22.336 billion USD, with the top three being: Uniswap (6.742 billion USD), PancakeSwap (3.67 billion USD), Meteora (1.502 billion USD).

Popular Protocols and On-Chain Performance

Based on TVL, the data of the top ten DeFi protocols is as follows:

(Source: DeFiLlama)

The data performance of the top-ranking protocols is as follows:

Aave: TVL approximately 40.344 billion USD, 24-hour fall of 1.91%;

Lido: TVL approximately 33.95 billion USD, 24-hour fall 2.97%;

EigenLayer: TVL approximately 16.932 billion USD, 24-hour fall of 2.15%;

Ethena: TVL approximately 12.628 billion USD, 24-hour fall of 0.23%;

ETH. fi: TVL approximately 10.038 billion USD, 24-hour fall of 2.35%.

In addition, the top ten projects ranked by protocol fees in the past 24 hours are as follows:

(Source: DeFiLlama)

Among them, Uniswap's protocol fees in the past 24 hours reached 10.82 million USD, second only to Tether (23 million USD); Jupiter's protocol fees in the past 24 hours reached 3.4 million USD, ranking fourth; Meteora ranked fifth with 3.21 million USD.

Project News Summary

1. The CEO of the decentralized exchange Lighter, Vlad, revealed several important pieces of information during an interview. Vlad stated that the spot trading feature will be launched from late October to early November, with the first batch of assets including ETH, BTC, and possibly WBTC. Selected Meme coins and partner tokens will be added subsequently, with trading fees being zero or extremely low.

In terms of token economics, 25-30% of the tokens will be used for the first and second quarter points Airdrop, with a total community allocation ratio reaching 50%. The second quarter points activity will continue until TGE, with points distribution resuming every Friday. The tokens will have multiple utilities, including access to exclusive Liquidity pools, market maker fee discounts, and potential staking features.

2. The multi-chain trading infrastructure project LAB has repurchased over 20.9 million LAB Tokens from platforms such as PancakeSwap, worth approximately $2.35 million. Previously, LAB announced that the repurchase plan for AB has officially started, with a dedicated repurchase portal soon to be launched. A public trading competition will be open to all LAB supporters, and each repurchase by LAB will be publicly disclosed in real-time on the portal.

3. According to the official announcement, the ZEROBASE Token Airdrop for the first quarter will be open for claiming on October 17 at 20:00.

For ZEROBASE early adopters and Galxe event participants: Start time: October 17, 2025, 12:00:00 UTC; End time: December 31, 2025, 23:59:59 UTC;

For CEX Booster program users: The distribution to CEX wallet users will be processed through the official rewards system of their wallet, ensuring that all eligible participants receive their ZBT according to the release schedule.

4. According to official news, the Solana ecosystem liquidity protocol Meteora announced that the MET distribution checker will officially launch on October 16, 2025, at 20:00 (UTC+8).

Meteora explains its TGE mechanism, stating that of the allocated 48% token supply, 10% will be distributed through a liquidity allocator, allowing users to immediately provide liquidity for MET at the start of trading. Initial liquidity will be established by the community (rather than the team) for MET, thereby unleashing the power of the Meteora fee generation mechanism.

The early liquidity pool will only contain MET tokens, and early buyers will invest USDC to provide a redemption basis for sellers. In this way, it can ensure that MET has sufficient liquidity and quickly expand the collective of liquidity providers. Participants will receive a combined return of USDC and MET, with the specific ratio depending on the market price of MET.

The official one-stop portal for MET, met.meteora.ag, will be launched in a few days. Users can join the liquidity allocation plan (which accounts for 10% of the total supply) on a first-come, first-served basis. All Jupiter staking users have been automatically included, so the participation quota for airdrop recipients is 7%. Users can register on this page to join the 7% quota, and successful registrants will directly receive liquidity positions on the token generation date and will start earning fees from the moment trading begins with MET. There is no need for additional claim procedures to start accumulating earnings. On the token generation date, users can directly claim MET (or liquidity positions) through the Meteora app and can operate in any liquidity pool that includes the MET contract address. This will enable seamless claims and instant deployment of MET liquidity.

5. Jupiter will initiate a key governance vote to decide whether to burn the 121 million JUP Tokens that have been repurchased.

6. At the Aptos Experience event, the decentralized trading platform Decibel announced that the testnet will go live next month, with the mainnet expected to launch in the first quarter of 2026. Decibel is developed by the Aptos Labs team and aims to build a high-performance on-chain trading engine that integrates features such as spot trading, perpetual contracts, lending, and vaults, supporting cross-chain accounts and an Encrypted Mempool to enhance privacy and trading efficiency.

7. Eric Trump confirmed plans to launch a real estate tokenization project through World Liberty Financial, marking a further application of encryption technology in the real estate sector.

8. Sui ecosystem revenue protocol Typus Finance official stated on social media that about 2 hours ago, its TLP contract was exploited due to a lack of permission verification in the oracle. To protect all users, the official has immediately suspended the operation of all Typus smart contracts. Currently, a comprehensive investigation is underway with emergency technical support provided by the Sui Foundation, and updates will be synchronized as soon as progress is made.

9. According to official news, Aptos officially launched a new brand image at the Aptos Experience 2025 event, announcing that the project has entered a new development stage. Ash Pampati, Senior Vice President of the Aptos Foundation and Head of Ecosystem, stated on-site that Aptos is committed to building a “performance layer for global value flow” to support more efficient blockchain infrastructure and innovative applications.

Aptos's brand refresh this time is not only a visual upgrade but also reflects its clear mission: to build a network layer that allows value, ideas, and innovations to flow freely around the globe. This vision originates from Diem and is now continued and realized by the builders of Aptos, pushing the internet into a new stage of “free flow of value.”

At the ecological level, the Aptos network is gradually forming a diversified global economic system. Stablecoin issuers Circle, Tether, and digital payment company PayPal are driving the cross-chain circulation of stable value across different networks; global asset management institutions such as BlackRock and Franklin Templeton are exploring the connection of traditional capital markets to on-chain systems. At the same time, decentralized finance projects like Aave and Thala continue to innovate and expand on the Aptos network.

10. The Ethereum Foundation officially stated that the organization has deposited 2,400 ETH and approximately 6 million USD stablecoins into Morpho's yield vault.

11. The Ethereum Layer 2 solution MegaETH announced it will launch a public offering on the ICO platform Sonar.

Overview of Major Leading DeFi Projects

Ethereum DEX 24-hour trading volume ranks first, approximately 5.944 billion USD, with a week-on-week growth of 64.1%, among which the top three projects are:

Uniswap (4.173 billion USD), Fluid (962.85 million USD), Curve Finance (384.43 million USD);

Solana DEX ranks second in 24-hour trading volume, approximately $4.891 billion, with a week-on-week growth of 38.05%. The top three projects are:

Meteora ($1.172 billion), HumidiFi ($979.74 million), Orca ($810.41 million);

BSC DEX ranks third in 24-hour trading volume, approximately 3.929 billion USD, with a week-on-week growth of 9.22%; among them, the top three projects are:

PancakeSwap ($2.827 billion), Uniswap ($752.07 million), four.meme ($234.78 million).

Gate DeFi Section Token Market Data

According to the data from the Gate market page, the price performance of the top ten tokens in the DeFi sector is as follows:

(Source: Gate DeFi Sector Quotes)

As of October 16, the cryptocurrency market is showing a lackluster trend, with DeFi sector tokens declining simultaneously, specifically:

UNI is currently priced at 6.55 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 5.12%;

AAVE is currently reported at 239.93 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 7.44%;

WLFI is currently reported at 0.1394 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 4.97%;

MORPHO is currently reported at 1.94 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 2.96%;

INJ is currently reported at 9.06 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 5.25%;

MYX is currently reported at 3.15 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 0.97%;

CRV is currently reported at 0.5527 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 10.81%;

SYRUP is currently reported at 0.4178 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 8.95%;

FF is currently reported at 0.1368 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 4.94%.

Market Trend Interpretation

Overall market under pressure, capital outflow but structure remains stable

The total DeFi TVL across the network has decreased to 154.649 billion USD, reflecting a rise in short-term risk aversion in the market. Lido, Aave, and EigenLayer have all seen declines of around 2%, primarily due to the weakening ETH price and some funds being withdrawn from liquidity staking and lending protocols. However, the TVL structure remains dominated by blue-chip protocols, with no signs of systemic capital withdrawal.

DEX activity remains high, Uniswap holds the leading position

The 24-hour DEX volume is $22.336 billion, slightly lower than yesterday, but the market trading willingness remains strong. Uniswap ranks first with $6.742 billion, followed closely by PancakeSwap and Meteora. Notably, the Solana ecosystem DEX Meteora has performed outstandingly, demonstrating the continuous distribution of on-chain active funds in high-performance public chains.

Multiple projects are making progress frequently, and the market's innovation enthusiasm has not waned

Lighter announced that it will launch spot trading features at the end of October and carry out a points Airdrop. LAB is advancing the buyback of 20.9 million Tokens. Meteora released the MET distribution details, showing that the DeFi protocol is continuously strengthening its economic model and user incentive system. At the same time, cross-ecosystem actions from Aptos, World Liberty Financial, etc., provide new imaginative space for the integration of DeFi and RWA.

The token market is experiencing a widespread decline, and short-term correction pressure in the sector is becoming apparent

The overall performance of the Gate DeFi sector has weakened, with UNI falling by 5.12%, AAVE dropping by 7.44%, and CRV experiencing a decline of as much as 10.81%, becoming the main pressured assets in this round of adjustment. In comparison, MYX had the smallest drop, only 0.97%, indicating that some small-cap assets are showing resilience against declines during the fluctuations. The overall market is in a phase of technical correction, lacking new funds entering.

Analyst's View

Short-term pressure but no systemic risk, the market is in a technical consolidation period

Analysts point out that the decline in TVL and DEX volume more reflects the market's short-term wait-and-see sentiment rather than a liquidity crisis. Mainstream protocols still maintain a high Lock-up Position scale, and there are no signs of concentrated capital withdrawal.

ETH's stable range will determine the subsequent DeFi repair strength

ETH stabilizing around the $4000 mark is crucial for the DeFi market. If ETH breaks through $4200 again, it is expected to drive a rapid recovery in LSD, lending, and yield aggregation protocols.

Airdrop and Token Buyback Become Potential Structural Opportunities

Analysts believe that the incentive mechanisms of Lighter, ZEROBASE, and Meteora may attract some capital back on-chain in the short term, creating localized active areas. In particular, Meteora's community liquidity distribution model is seen as a positive signal for DeFi innovation.

In the medium term, we remain optimistic about leading protocols and cross-chain ecosystem expansion

As high-performance public chains like Aptos and Solana continue to advance their ecosystem construction, funds are gradually concentrating on protocols that possess real application scenarios and cross-chain interoperability. Analysts generally expect that the current pullback is a phase of oscillation, and the overall structure of the DeFi market remains healthy.

Conclusion

Despite the short-term pressure on the market and the widespread decline of mainstream tokens, the core indicators of the DeFi sector still show a robust structure. Although TVL and volume have decreased, they have not reached key support levels. With multiple project airdrops, buybacks, and ecosystem collaborations progressing, the DeFi market is expected to regain upward momentum after a short-term consolidation.