UNI, the native token of decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap, has surged 9% to become the top gainer in the crypto market today.

At the time of writing, UNI has been trading at .69, which is up 8.5% over the past day. In the same timeframe, the crypto asset experienced a 31% drop in trading volume, suggesting existing holders might be holding onto their UNI tokens in expectation of a further price rise.

Meanwhile, Uniswap’s market cap had risen to .4 billion, bringing the token to the 18th largest crypto asset asset per data from CoinMarketCap.

The latest surge in price comes as the decentralized exchange shared a new enigmatic X post early on June 14 featuring the message: “Locked in. Ready for the Endgame.” The message was paired with an image of a man intently sitting forward in his chair, a meme used by gamers when things are getting serious.

A following attached post from June 1 subsequently suggested that Uniswap v2 is gearing up to add support for a new Layer-2 blockchain.

Although the specific L2 protocol was not disclosed, speculation among the crypto community on X leans towards ZKsync, a renowned trustless Layer 2 solution known for scalable, low-cost Ethereum transactions.

Meanwhile, multiple members of the community also expressed discontent regarding the potential deployment on ZKsync.

Another potential cause for the recent price surge in UNI could be the impressive growth in L2 volume processed through the Uniswap Protocol, as highlighted in a June 13 X post by Uniswap Labs.

It took 22 months to hit the 0 billion mark, 10 months to reach 0 billion, and just 3 months to surpass 0 billion,’ the Uniswap team noted, showing data from analytics platform Dune. The exponential growth outlines the growing utility and adoption of Uniswap’s services in the defi space.

Additionally, an X user with the pseudonym “Kyledoops” pointed out the rising popularity of Uniswap v2 pools on various L2 solutions like Optimism, Arbitrum, and Polygon.

These platforms are being favored for their promise of scalability, reduced transaction fees, and enhanced user experience, further contributing to the demand for Uniswap’s offerings.

While Ethereum continues to lead in defi, the integration of L2 networks with Uniswap is evidently propelling quicker and more economical transactions, positioning these networks as strong contenders in the evolving crypto space.

Analysts have flagged that Bitcoin has failed to deliver in the second quarter of 2024, falling behind stocks and bonds in terms of performance.

According to Bloomberg, Bitcoin has underperformed compared to global equities, fixed income, and commodities this quarter. The flagship cryptocurrency has lost approximately 5% since the start of April through mid-June. 

After hitting a high of ,798 in March, attempts to rally back to the position have failed to materialize.

In the previous quarter, Bitcoin had soared 67% in the three months through March. Massively surpassing indexes of traditional assets.

One of the key reasons fuelling the move was the hype around the approval of US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). However, that enthusiasm seems to be fading, according to Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter.

Acheson believes the inflow of fresh funds into Bitcoin ETFs has slowed down. She attributed most of the recent inflows to existing Bitcoin holders, adding that “only new money will move the price.” 

Drawing in over billion to date, Bitcoin ETFs were one of the most coveted investment vehicles on Wall Street.

Strategists at JPMorgan Chase observed that there has been a rotation of funds from digital wallets on exchanges to the new ETF products. Keeping that in mind, they estimated this year’s net flow to crypto, including ETFs and other sources, at billion.

The estimation is a lot lower compared to the billion recorded in 2021 and billion in 2022.

With this, the strategists concluded that they remain “skeptical” about the pace of inflows continuing through the remainder of 2024.

Acheson further estimates that Bitcoin miners may have contributed to the cryptocurrency’s lackluster performance. 

Miners have been selling off their cryptocurrency holdings to stay afloat. With the April halving, there has been a considerable drop in profitability. The current halving slashed the block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.

In May, crypto mining analytics firm Hashrate Index revealed that miners would face a “hefty upward difficulty adjustment,” in the coming months. Prior to that, research firm Kaiko had warned of impending selling pressure from miners.

“If miners were forced to sell even a fraction of their holdings over the coming month this would have a negative impact on markets,” the firm wrote back then.

Despite the slump in performance, some analysts remain bullish on Bitcoin. 

As reported by crypto.news, analyst CryptoCon has predicted a year-end price target of ,539 for the premiere crypto. Galaxy Digital’s Michael Novogratz speculates a similar range at 0,000.

Meanwhile, Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood has the most optimistic outlook, having pushed her long-term price target for Bitcoin higher to a whopping .8 million.