New York, Monday, October 21, 2024 – Uniswap, the largest decentralized exchange by volume, has launched its new layer 2 blockchain, Unichain, aiming to significantly boost its revenue and benefit its tokenholders.
Uniswap unveiled Unichain on October 10th.
It claimed that the new platform aims to offer quicker, more affordable transactions and seamless connections between different blockchains.
According to reports, the move could redirect up to $500 million annually from fees that would otherwise go to the Ethereum network.
Unichain’s launch on October 10 is expected to redirect $368 million previously paid to Ethereum validators directly to Uniswap Labs and Uniswap (UNI) tokenholders. Michael Nadeau, founder of DeFi Report, highlighted in an October 13 X post that Uniswap Labs, which controls all validators on Unichain, will now capture all Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) on the network.
This change could allow Uniswap tokenholders to share in the $100 million worth of MEV fees generated over the past year.
Nadeau also noted potential advantages for Uniswap’s liquidity providers, who could benefit from staking and participating in MEV capture on the new blockchain. However, Ethereum validators and Ether (ETH) tokenholders are expected to lose out, with fewer fees and less burned ETH flowing back into the Ethereum ecosystem.
Over the past year, Uniswap has generated over $1.3 billion in fees across multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Optimism, and BNB Chain. Unichain’s introduction promises faster, cheaper transactions and improved interoperability, but reactions from the decentralized finance (DeFi) community have been mixed.
Some see the blockchain as unnecessary, others believe it will enhance liquidity and user experience. Critics, including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, have expressed concerns about Uniswap moving away from its simple, user-friendly origins.
