The Base network achieved a new record in January 2025, as Uniswap Protocol exceeded $15.65 billion in trading volume during that month.
Trading on Base reached its greatest volume in a row when it surpassed previous records in November and December 2024 and then again in January 2025. Uniswap’s trading volume exceeds $1 trillion, making this decentralized exchange one of the world’s largest.
Trading trends on Uniswap’s base deployment
The base has experienced a surge in Uniswap activity because traders are expanding their interest in memecoins, AI-related tokens, and Coinbase Wrapped Bitcoin (cbBTC). Memecoins are a dominant market, while Base has become a separate trading platform for speculative investors.
Among the top-performing tokens, Virtual Protocol’s VIRTUAL stood out with a monthly trading volume of $6.6 billion. The token, currently priced at $2.05, has reached a lifetime volume of $12.2 billion. Data indicates that VIRTUAL occupies position two following Ethereum and USDC because both tokens enable Base to execute decentralized finance operations.
The network popularity of USDC rose when cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase blocked USDT from European networks because of MiCA requirements. The trading volume exceeded $5.5 billion while USDC achieved a fully diluted valuation (FDV) amounting to $53.1 billion. USDT encountered a notable trading decline since it reached a total volume of only $59 million throughout January.
Coinbase Wrapped Bitcoin (cbBTC) also saw notable engagement from Uniswap users. Designed to facilitate Bitcoin’s participation in DeFi, cbBTC reached an FDV of $2.4 billion and a monthly trading volume of $695.95 million. Another AI-related token, AIXBT by Virtuals, recorded $603 million in trading volume.
Uniswap’s role in the base’s growth
The rising Uniswap trading volume helped Base develop into a larger platform. The decentralized application network exceeded 2 million daily active users in January while supporting a growing number of more than 500 applications. The base initially succeeded through NFT and memecoin operations, yet its userbase now demonstrates increasing DeFi preferences.
Two main applications operating on the Base are Aerodrome and Morpho Blue. Morpho Blue became known as a platform that enabled users to obtain loans from Bitcoin collateral. Coinbase’s integration of Base with Phantom Wallet further strengthened adoption, helping onboard new users in the last quarter of 2024.
Base’s position in the broader market
The base currently holds approximately $3.5 billion in total value locked (TVL) and recorded close to $20 billion in total volume for January. Despite its growth, Base remains behind Solana, which also experienced record-breaking activity during the same period.
The decentralized finance platform Uniswap introduced its operations in 2018. The platform achieved mass popularity during the 2021 market bull phase while conducting more than 50 million transactions. The 2022 bear market failed to halt Uniswap users from operating their cryptocurrency transactions persistently. In 2023 before 2024 Uniswap executed less than 180 million transactions yet logged 300 million transactions that year marking the network’s peak of activity throughout its operation.