Maple's SYRUP token has surged 26% in the past week and 112% year-to-date, outpacing other money markets on deposit, borrowing and yield growth. The protocol has surpassed $4 billion in deposits, led by the syrupUSDC pool with around $2.66 billion as of Dec. 21 and an average APY near 8%. With annualized revenue rising from $1.0 million in Q4 2024 to an estimated $6.6 million in Q4 2025 and all early token allocations fully vested since 2023, Maple is positioned as the best-performing lending token this year.

Cryptocurrency markets declined amid weakening macroeconomic conditions, with Bitcoin falling 0.9% alongside traditional benchmarks. Bitcoin miners IREN and Cipher Mining posted substantial gains following announcements of high-performance computing agreements with Microsoft and AWS valued at $9.7 billion and $5.5 billion respectively. The deals highlight bitcoin mining companies' pivot to AI infrastructure hosting partnerships with major technology firms.