Uniswap V4 Hook Summer Market Summary and Subsequent On-Chain DeFi Hotspot Analysis I. Hook Summer Market Review (Starting May 2026) After the Uniswap V4 Hooks mainnet launch in early 2025, they truly ignited attention from late April to May 2026. Hooks allow the insertion of custom logic into key nodes such as pool swaps and liquidity changes, forming mechanism-driven tokens, rather than just simple memes. This wave, widely known as Hook Summer, is characterized by pure on-chain mechanisms, fair issuance, and rapid rotation. May saw the peak of the surge, with uPEG/SATO/01 all reaching over 40M, but rapid rotation (liquidity draining each other) followed by an overall cooling down. Most purely mechanism-driven speculative tokens have retraced more than 90% from their peak, a typical "narrative-driven, rapid decay" path. However, the Hook technology itself has not disappeared—currently, there are over 150,000 Hooks and over 15 million pools across the network. But the hype surrounding "purely mechanism-driven tokens" has clearly decreased. Platforms like robinhood (0x18e674231a58c239dc7daedcffe15ec3a24cff5c) attempt to modularize innovation and lower barriers to entry, representing a continuation of the infrastructure layer. II. Why V4 Hooks Have Cooled Down Recently 1. Mechanism Homogenization: Bonding Curves, automatic Burns, Anti-Snipes, and dynamic fees are quickly copied, lacking sustained differentiation. 2. Reduced Liquidity: The overall low liquidity in the crypto market leads to extremely rapid rotation, making it difficult to build depth. 3. Narrative Shift: Market attention is shifting to areas with more "real data" support, such as RWA, AI Agents, and Perp DEX revenue. 4. Low Survival Rate: Most Hook mechanism tokens lack continuous product iteration or revenue after the initial wave, and going to zero is common. Hooks, as underlying primitives, are still widely used (especially Launchpad), but the era of "Hook Summer-style pure mechanism gold dogs" is over. III. Forecast of Upcoming On-Chain DeFi Hot Topics Based on current data (continuous expansion of RWA scale, growth in AI Agents payment activity, outstanding revenue from Perp DEX, and mature modular infrastructure), promising directions include: 1. RWA Tokenization + DeFi Composability: Tokenized stocks, bonds, and credit have reached billions of dollars in scale and continue to grow. Key innovation lies in deep integration with DeFi: as collateral, generating yield, trading on DEX/Perp, and enabling custom fees or rebalancing through hooks. 2. AI Agents / Agentic Finance: AI agents act as independent economic participants: holding wallets, trading autonomously, making payments, and managing positions. Solana, Robinhood Chain, Base, and BSC already have actual payment data (such as x402). Infrastructure requirements: agent identity, payment channels, compliance constraints, and on-chain execution. 3. High-Revenue DeFi Infrastructure (especially Perp DEX and revenue sharing): Hyperliquid and others have proven the continued appeal of models where "protocols generate real revenue and flow back to the platform." The next step will be more innovative order books/hybrid AMMs, modular PERPs, or advanced liquidity management through hooks. 4. Modular Programmable Liquidity and Advanced Hook Infrastructure Such as hooker platforms, MEV-protected hooks, lending integration hooks, dynamic fees, TWAMMs, etc. These are the "infrastructure layer," not single-coin speculation. IV. Potential Next On-Chain "Golden Dog" Innovation Mechanism Tracks for Ordinary People Ordinary cryptocurrency traders and "small-time" token holders seeking high returns should focus on areas still in their early stages, with room for mechanism innovation, and some real-world use or composability: 1. AI Agent-related Infrastructure and Early-Stage Tokens (Highest Potential) Protocols that allow agents to autonomously hold assets, make payments, and trade. Focus on projects involving agent payments, identity, and execution layers. Risk: Strong narrative but weak revenue verification; need to verify actual on-chain activity. 2. RWA + On-Chain Composable Mechanisms Projects where tokenized stocks/indices can be used as collateral, generate DeFi yields, or allow customized behavior through hooks. Institutional investment is a long-term driver; short-term high-volatility "golden dogs" may occur. 3. Modular Hook/Launchpad Platform Tokens: Projects like http://Hookr.fun lower the barrier to innovation, allowing ordinary users to create tokens by combining Hook Blocks. Platform tokens with real transaction fees/burn mechanisms are more sustainable than pure mechanism tokens. 4. New Fair Issuance + Continuous Incentive Mechanisms: Going beyond simple Bonding Curves, these tokens incorporate real utility (such as linking mining to actual use, revenue sharing, and anti-flooding design). "Proof-of-Something" experiments like HBTC are worth further observation, but it depends on whether there is real demand to support them. 5. Revenue-Sharing Perp/DEX or Lending Innovations: Projects with clear protocol revenue that flows back to holders are more resilient to price drops than pure mechanisms. Pay attention to emerging Perp DEXs or lending-trading integrations that improve capital efficiency through hooks. Note that most mechanisms drive "golden dogs" to eventually experience significant drawdowns or even become worthless, as Hook Summer has demonstrated. Focus on contract audits, liquidity depth, team/decentralization level, and whether there is real use rather than just a narrative. Rapid rotation makes position management crucial. Conclusion: Hook Summer demonstrated the potential of V4 Hooks as "DeFi Lego," but the pure hype phase has cooled. The next wave is more likely to come from RWA composability and AI Agents' economic participation, as well as infrastructure that can modularize innovation and generate real revenue. On-chain players should prioritize tracking early-stage innovative projects in these areas, rather than simply replicating the Bonding Curve model from the previous wave.