The Hook Ecosystem Begins to Stir! Who Will Be the Next Dark Horse?

The number of ecological projects around Uniswap V4 Hook is increasing, but projects that can establish real businesses relying on Hook still need time to filter.

Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News

In the world of DeFi, Uniswap has never lacked imitators, but recently, a batch of new projects has begun to try to create something different based on Uniswap.

Some focus on trading fees, some attempt to redistribute arbitrage profits, some explore new liquidity management methods, and others hope to implement more complex execution rules for token trading.

A common technical keyword behind these projects is: Hook.

Hook is not a new feature recently introduced by Uniswap. It has been one of the core innovations of this version since Uniswap v4 officially launched in January 2025. Now, as projects built around Hook continue to emerge, this originally developer-oriented technical concept is beginning to enter the sight of more crypto investors.

This article will sort out eight relatively popular Hook ecosystem projects (not investment recommendations): Hookr, StonkBrokers, What The Hook, Bordrless, The Standard Reserve, Programmable, Claus, and Fables Finance, and see what developers are doing with Hook.

What is Hook? Adding "Custom Rules" to Uniswap Trading Pools

In simple terms, Uniswap provides basic trading facilities, while Hook allows developers to write additional operational rules for specific trading pools.

In Uniswap v4, Hook is an external smart contract attached to liquidity pools. It can execute custom logic before and after operations such as pool creation, liquidity addition or removal, and trading, allowing developers to design different rules for different markets.

For example, fees can be adjusted according to market changes, trades can trigger rewards, and liquidity pools can also incorporate specialized pricing or order mechanisms.

Behind the Popularity: Triple Risks of Early Projects

Of course, compared to mature DeFi protocols, some of the currently popular Hook ecosystem projects are still in the product and market validation stage.

First is the risk of technology and smart contracts. Hook can execute custom logic in the trading process, but this also expands the range of code that needs to be reviewed. The infrastructure of Uniswap v4 has been developed and tested, but that does not mean that any third-party Hook automatically inherits the same level of security. Complex trading logic may also lead to unexpected execution results. Custom accounting, external oracles, dynamic fees, and upgradeable permissions can all affect transaction and liquidity security.

Second is the risk of market liquidity and price volatility. Early tokens may experience significant fluctuations due to the small size of the trading pool, with noticeable rises and falls on small amounts of buying and selling. Investors need to pay attention not only to token prices and market capitalization but also to check actual tradable liquidity, token concentration, bundling degree, token issuance permissions, and the trading behavior of large holders.

Finally, there is the risk of a disconnect between product value and token value. A Hook that can achieve useful functions does not necessarily mean that the tokens issued can capture protocol revenue. The trading volume, fees, buyback mechanisms, or revenue distribution promoted by the project all need to be carefully considered.

It is especially important to note that being deployed on Uniswap v4 does not equate to receiving official endorsement from Uniswap; using Hook technology does not mean that the project has established a sustainable business model.

Therefore, the following projects are more suitable as early ecological observation lists rather than investment recommendations.

Several Hook-Related Projects Worth Observing

Hookr

Hookr focuses on making it easier for developers and project parties to combine, deploy, and use Hook. The platform operates on the Robinhood Chain, supports new token issuance, and also allows for the establishment of new Uniswap v4 pools for existing assets. Creators can choose dynamic fees, anti-sniping, automatic burning, and LP rewards as Hook Blocks to configure different rules for different pools.

Its product range has extended to Builder (creating pools or deploying Hooks with Hook), Hook directory, SDK, and HookrScan (to see ratings). Thus, Hookr's highlights lie not only in issuing tokens but also in whether it can lower the threshold for using Hook: making rules understandable for traders, enabling developers to reuse modules, and allowing other products to access these markets.

However, the more combinable functions there are, the more specific pool configurations need to be checked. The official website also clearly states that the contracts have undergone adversarial reviews but have not yet accepted external audits.

According to GMGN data, the current market value of Hookr token HOOKR is $26.5 million, with a peak market value of $31.43 million.

StonkBrokers

StonkBrokers is a DeFi infrastructure and experimental suite running on the Robinhood Chain, focusing on stock tokens, Uniswap v4 Hooks, and liquidity pools.

It combines DeFi tools with tokenized U.S. stocks on the Robinhood Chain while providing NFT communities, Launchpad, and incubation functions. The team claims to act as an "on-chain Y Combinator" through Special Projects, providing tracks, liquidity, and community distribution for early projects.

On October 14, Beijing time, StonkBrokers utilized Uniswap v4 Hook functionality, in collaboration with Hookr, to create a new type of token called "Pair Token," which is a hybrid, auto-compounding ERC-20.

The principle is to merge two tokens into a new token (for example, ETH + NVDA = ETHNVDA, or NVDA + TSLA = NVDATSLA). Each pair token represents a proportional share of the corresponding full-range Uniswap v4 liquidity pool.

Using the new primitives created with Uniswap v4 Hook, two tokens (e.g., ETH + NVDA = ETHNVDA) are merged into an auto-compounding ERC-20, representing a share of the full-range Uniswap v4 liquidity position. It can be minted, traded, and redeemed, with fees automatically reinvested (stock tokens also have a dividend compounding effect). In terms of fees, minting and redeeming are free. A 10% fee is charged on LP fees during compounding, used for STONKBROKER buybacks.

According to GMGN data, the current market value of STONKBROKER is $15 million, with a peak market value of $95.75 million on August 12.

What The Hook

What The Hook (WTH) has a relatively clear product entry point: redistributing arbitrage profits between trading pools.

In AMM trading, different liquidity pools may experience temporary price differences due to trading activities. Arbitrage traders can profit by buying and selling upon discovering these differences, prompting prices in different markets to converge.

What The Hook aims to change is not the arbitrage behavior itself but who ultimately receives the arbitrage profits.

According to its official documentation, What The Hook checks for price differences between related trading pools on Robinhood through Uniswap v4 Hook, executing arbitrage and distributing the actual profits when conditions are met and costs are deducted.

Its documentation lists two profit distribution methods:

• WTH's own trading pool: traders receive 10% of the captured arbitrage profits, while the WTH treasury receives 90%.
• Third-party access trading pools: profits are defaulted to distribute 5% to traders, 45% to liquidity pools, 40% to the WTH treasury, and 10% to referral partners.

It is important to emphasize that these ratios pertain to successfully captured arbitrage profits, and the distribution ratios for specific cooperative deployments can be adjusted.

The business logic of WTH is that if more third-party trading pools access its Hook, the protocol may earn revenue from more arbitrage activities. However, it also faces practical limitations: arbitrage opportunities do not arise with every trade, and competitive arbitrage mechanisms, trading costs, market depth, and the number of access pools can all affect final profits.

More importantly, the income received by the WTH treasury does not equate to direct dividends for WTH token holders.

According to GMGN data, the current market value of WTH is $6.4 million.

Programmable (@ProgrammableHQ)

Programmable is a token and custom project issuance platform based on Uniswap v4, providing a modular issuance method without programming and a custom issuance interface for developers. The platform currently supports Ethereum mainnet and Robinhood Chain networks.

The platform mainly offers two paths:

The first is Module Mode: select compatible modules and configure parameters on the website without needing to write a complete smart contract.

The second is Custom Launch: developers can use their own tokens, Hooks, or other supporting contracts to prepare project issuance via API.

It, along with Hookr, is lowering the deployment threshold for customized markets. For such platforms, long-term competitiveness may depend more on module quality, integration capabilities, and actual usage rather than just short-term issuance numbers.

As of the time of writing, among the tokens issued through Programmable, sorted by market value, the Claus token (see introduction below) has a market value of $6.42 million, and the official Programmable token on the Robinhood Chain network currently has a market value of approximately $4.64 million. Another project, Temo, has a market value of $450,000.

Claus

Claus (CLAUS) is an experimental project built on Ethereum's Uniswap v4 Hook. Its core feature is that after the token is issued, it can increase, modify, or remove functions by updating the Hook contract without needing to reissue the token. The CLAUS token is issued through Programmable.

Fables

Fables Finance is a decentralized exchange built on Robinhood Chain based on Uniswap v4 Hook, combining the ve(3,3) token economic model with a programmable trading pool mechanism, aiming to enhance liquidity incentives and the flexibility of trading fee distribution.

Its core feature is utilizing Hook to set dynamic fees for different trading pools, adjusting trading costs based on market fluctuations and other conditions to improve the yield structure for liquidity providers. At the same time, Fables introduces the ve(3,3) mechanism, combining token locking, governance voting, and liquidity incentives, allowing participants to influence incentive distribution.

The Standard Reserve

The Standard Reserve uses Hook for an on-chain monetary policy experiment. Its designated ETH/STANDARD trading pool tracks net ETH flow, and the "central bank" contract adjusts issuance based on this: continuous inflows correspond to issuance expansion and reserve accumulation, while outflows correspond to issuance contraction, complemented by a buyback and burn mechanism.

According to GMGN data, the current market value of the STANDARD token is $26.17 million.

Bordrless

Bordrless needs to be mentioned separately, as it uses a Hook mechanism developed independently on Solana, rather than being directly based on Uniswap v4 Hook.

It has built its own token standard, DEX, and issuance platform on Solana, allowing developers to write custom rules for token transfers, minting, burning, and trading.

For example, developers can design mechanisms where a portion of the amount automatically enters a designated account during token trading, and a portion of the tokens is burned; they can also change fee rules based on holding time, market conditions, etc.

The idea is to give the tokens themselves richer programmability while supporting trading and issuance activities through the accompanying DEX and Launchpad.

As of the time of writing, only two tokens issued through the Bordrless Launchpad have market values between $100,000 and $200,000, while the rest are in the thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.

According to GMGN data, the current market value of Bordrless token BORDR is $6.4 million.

Conclusion

From these product paths, it can be seen that Hook is enabling trading pools to take on more functions: combining issuance rules, distributing arbitrage profits, managing reserves, providing governance signals, and responding to market risks of different assets.

What is more worth observing next is whether custom rules create real value? Are there external users or projects willing to continue using? And can these usage activities form verifiable protocol revenue?

While more projects capable of writing Hook may emerge, those that can establish real businesses relying on Hook still need time to filter.