Uniswap
The Uniswap Protocolis a decentralized exchange and public good owned and governed by UNI token holders through Uniswap DAO.
Uniswap Labs
Uniswap Labs initially developed the Uniswap Protocol and the Uniswap Interface. The Uniswap Protocol is an open-source protocol that provides liquidity and trading ERC20 tokens on Ethereum. The DEX is available on multiple blockchains.
After delegating governance to the DAO, it now focuses on building products to support the Uniswap Ecosystem, such as Uniswap X.
Uniswap Foundation
The Uniswap Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 2022. Its primary objective is to promote the expansion, decentralization, and longevity of DeFi. The Uniswap community (DAO) granted funding for the Foundation after endorsing a community [governance proposal](https://app.uniswap.org/#/vote/2/24). The Uniswap Foundation operates independently from other entities within the Uniswap ecosystem, including Uniswap Labs.
Uniswap Governance
The Uniswap DAO is responsible for managing the development of Uniswap and its ecosystem. Its governance is facilitated through the UNI token.
Governance Framework
The DAO operates on a simple framework, where the token holders cast their votes on the proposals submitted to them. Token-holders are the only essential players in the governance structure.
Token-Holders
UNI holders ensure that governance decisions comply with applicable laws and regulations.
They have ownership of:
- Uniswap governance
- UNI community treasury
- The protocol fee switch
- All subnames
- Uniswap Default List (tokens.uniswap.eth)
- SOCKS liquidity tokens
Governance Proposals
The Uniswap DAO executes decisions on-chain through a Compound Governor Bravo smart contract. Any addresses with over 2.5M UNI (0.25% of total supply) delegated to it may propose governance actions containing executable code
Proposals within Uniswap DAO can include:
- Deployments of the Protocol onto new chains
- Funding programs
- Creating new governance bodies
- Modifying governance mechanisms
A proposal is approved if it obtains the following:
- Simple Majority (i.e., more 'for' votes than 'against.')
- Quorum, measured as a fixed amount of positive votes. In V3 governance, the quorum amount was increased to require proposals obtaining over 40M 'for' votes.
Current proposals can be found on Tally and Uniswap Agora.
Governance Process
Voting Metrics an Insights
- 19% participation in on chain voting and a 97% on chain proposal passing rate.
- The amount of voter participation on proposals has rarely surpassed 5K since April 2023.
- Voting power cast per proposal shows that voting power participation per proposal is fairly consistent.
- Currently, 33 addresses hold enough voting power delegated to create governance proposals.
To understand voting power distribution in Uniswap DAO, we can look at the share of total voting power geld by the top addresses. Currently, the top 5 and top 10 addresses hold 21% of total voting power respectively.
Delegation platforms update delegate’s supported proposals so the community can choose who to delegate to.
Voting Process
- Request for comment: A quorum must be reached on the temperature check of at least 10M UNI ‘for’ votes to move onto Phase 3.
- Snapshot temperature check: A quorum must be reached on the temperature check of at least 10M UNI ‘for’ votes to move onto Phase 3.
- Governance proposal: Create the proposal through an interface (on Uniswap 93, Tally 21, or Boardroom 24) or through writing the calldata. Submit the proposal or get someone with the necessary submission threshold to submit it for you.
- Voting and execution: The proposal undergoes a two-day waiting period and then a seven-day voting period. If a proposal passes the final on chain vote it is queued in a timelock contract, where the proposed changes can be executed after a 2-day delay
Read more about the current governance process here.
Contribution Pathways
Uniswap conducts a series of grants through the Uniswap Foundation and partnerships with other ecosystems
Uniswap-Arbitrum Grant Program
This 6-month grant program aims to advance projects that build exclusively on the Uniswap-Arbitrum ecosystem. Learn more about the program and how to apply here.
Uniswap Grants
Uniswap funds proposals through:
- Grants RFPs, where the Foundation gathers pain points and funds submitted ideas and initiatives.
- Grants Program, where the Foundation allocates funds to public goods from contributors on a rolling basis. Currently, Uniswap is exploring long-term grants and will be launching new funding initiatives in early 2024.
Build on Uniswap
Learn through its various resources for hackers and start building on Uniswap.