DeFi tokens dominated the top of the crypto secondary market gainers board on Aug. 24, according to HTX market data. SPK posted the strongest daily move in the group, rising more than 26% on the day and 44.8% over the past week. MORPHO gained 20.84% and was quoted at $2.751 at the time of the update. Other DeFi names also moved sharply higher, with AAVE up 16.76% to $144.07 and PENDLE up 14.34% to $1.847. ENA added 13.64% on the day to $0.1685, while its seven-day gain reached 96%. HTX data also showed ETHFI, LDO, and MET each rising more than 10% during the session. The move placed DeFi tokens at the center of the day’s gains across the broader crypto secondary market, with SPK and MORPHO highlighted as leading names in the rally.

Citing RootData token unlock data, ChainCatcher reports that Spark Protocol (SPK) will unlock around 278.91 million tokens — worth about $4.09 million — at 00:00 Beijing time on August 17.

Spark Protocol has released its Q2 2026 financial report, headlined by $40.6 million in total protocol revenue, up 29% from the prior quarter. Net protocol revenue, however, fell 38% to $4.31 million, and net protocol surplus dropped 79% to $710,000 as margin pressures built across its lending operations. Distribution rewards emerged as the biggest net revenue contributor at $4.53 million, with sUSDS alone accounting for $2.63 million. The Spark Liquidity Layer expanded its average deployed capital to $2.56 billion but swung to -$810,000 in net revenue, with the captured spread turning negative at -0.13% versus 0.64% in Q1. SparkLend's USDT balances ended the quarter at $528 million, positioning it among the largest USDT lending protocols on Ethereum. Treasury reserves stood at $48.5 million, while the protocol repurchased $1.31 million in SPK tokens. The protocol remained profitable in each month of the quarter despite persistent spread compression.

Justin Sun moved 41.99 million SPK worth about $1.23 million to HTX after a two-week pause. Since September 2025, Sun-linked wallets have sent roughly 610 million SPK to exchanges, renewing concerns over supply pressure and governance transparency.

Spark migrated roughly $150 million in liquidity to Uniswap v4, creating a shared Stablecoin FX Layer that pools USDS, USDT, and PYUSD. UNI jumped 1.3% while SPK slipped 2.5%. The move targets fragmented stablecoin liquidity.

The crypto market cap climbed to $2.7 trillion on April 23, up 1.9% in 24 hours. Bitcoin held firm near $78,360, CHIP surged 134.92%, and GSR introduced its first crypto basket ETF.

Binance Wallet's DeFi Earn Week campaign offers $1.1 million in rewards across five protocols. Supporting USDT, USDS, XAUT, and USD1, the event concludes July 27.

Castle Labs used this week’s Chronicle to make a broader point about the current crypto cycle: headline activity metrics are no longer enough on their own. Investors are asking where protocol revenue goes, how durable it is, and whether token holders, LPs, stakers or treasury structures actually capture any of it. That shift is visible across several cases covered in the report. Maple, despite posting a record first half with $4.6 billion in AUM, 81% year-over-year growth, and $4.4 million in Q2 revenue, is facing questions over the design of its new rules-based buyback framework. The protocol plans to tie buybacks to monthly gross revenue, but tokens repurchased under the plan are set to flow into the SYRUP Strategic Fund, leaving open questions about whether the mechanism behaves more like treasury management than a direct value-accrual model for SYRUP holders. Uniswap has now activated protocol fees on V4, reviving a familiar debate around LP economics and UNI utility. Sky, meanwhile, reported a record June revenue run rate of $419 million and more than $250 million in USDS yield distribution, yet its Prime Agent structure makes it harder to determine what SKY holders are actually entitled to. The report also highlights Theo’s integration of Fidelity International’s FILQ into thBILL, OndoPerps’ launch with tokenized equities as collateral, and several themes Castle Labs is tracking, including Circle Agent Stack, Robinhood Chain and an SEC roundtable on IPO access.