Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) Uniswap and Curve experienced a surge in trading volumes over the weekend as traders rushed to exchange their USDC holdings for other tokens, particularly wrapped ether (WETH) and tether (USDT).
This surge in trading volume resulted in Uniswap recording nearly $12 billion in trading volume over a 24-hour period from Saturday to Sunday, while Curve recorded nearly $8 billion in trading volume.
DEXs operate differently than centralized exchanges as they rely on smart contracts to facilitate trades, eliminating the need for intermediaries.
Users deposit their tokens to pools to provide liquidity to the platform, receiving rewards in the form of a percentage of fees paid by traders using the services.
According to data from Dune Analytics, USDC pools for WETH, USDT, and DAI processed $15 billion in volume over a seven-day period, with the majority of the activity taking place from Friday to Sunday.
This generated over $8 million in fees for the Uniswap protocol, with a smaller percentage paid out to liquidity providers.
Circle Internet Financial’s USDC stablecoin experienced a depeg from its intended $1 price on Friday night after Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), where Circle parked over $3.3 billion in treasury assets, was shut down by regulators.
This resulted in a selling frenzy over the weekend, with bitcoin dipping from a major support level at $20,000 to as low as $19,200.
However, bitcoin and ether surged 10% in the past 24 hours, retracing all weekend losses on Monday. This came after USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle announced on Sunday that it would cover all shortfall in reserves, while federal regulators said SVB depositors would have access to all funds on Monday morning after the US open.
