The DEF shocked the web3 community by abruptly selling half of the 1M UNI grant it received in 2021.<\/p>\n
Uniswap, the top spot decentralized exchange by trade volume, has voted\u00a0in favor of renewing\u00a0its financial support for the DeFi Education Fund (DEF), a web3 advocacy organization.<\/p>\n
On May 5, Uniswap governance\u00a0passed<\/a>\u00a0a temperature check proposal requesting 1 million UNI tokens ($7.58 million) in additional funding supporting the DEF\u2019s operations opposing legislative threats targeting the DeFi sector.<\/p>\n Half of the funds will be transferred to DEF\u2019s Coinbase account immediately, with the remaining assets streaming over a 12-month linear vesting period. More than 77% of votes\u00a0were cast\u00a0in favor of the proposal, with 10% opposing and nearly 13% abstaining.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the last few years, DeFi\u2019s policy challenges have become more real, more imminent, and more numerous,\u201d DEF said. \u201cDEF has defended DeFi from legislative threats that would require DeFi developers to implement protocol access restrictions or requirements designed for CeFi businesses\u2026 Given the steady stream of anti-crypto rulemaking coming from administrative agencies and certain members of Congress, now is not the time to take our foot off the pedal.\u201d<\/p>\n A back-up\u00a0proposal<\/a>\u00a0suggesting alternative funding plans closed with 33.5% of votes supporting an allocation of just 300,000 UNI ($2.27 million), followed by 29.6% of votes backing 1 million UNI, and 27.6% championing a 27.6% allotment. \u201cIf the original DeFi Education Fund Temp Check passes, then the original Temp Check will take precedence,\u201d the proposal said.<\/p>\n In March, the DEF sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)\u00a0in a bid\u00a0to establish a legal precedent that\u00a0airdropped tokens<\/a>\u00a0do not comprise securities investment contracts. The move\u00a0was intended\u00a0to protect projects airdropping tokens to early adopters from regulatory action from the SEC.<\/p>\n In July 2021, DEF ruffled feathers across the Uniswap and web3 communities when it immediately offloaded half of the 1 million UNI tokens it received from Uniswap following a governance vote.<\/p>\n The DEF failed to provide advance notice of the sales, eliciting pushback from the crypto community.\u00a0The backlash was intensified\u00a0after reports claimed that Larry Sukernik, a DEF committee member,\u00a0sold<\/a>\u00a0$50,000 after the organization dumped its tokens.<\/p>\n In February, Uniswap began selling its remaining funds per an 18-month sales\u00a0plan<\/a> intended\u00a0to provide the organization with a financial runway until July 2025. The plan involves quarterly transfers of 125,000 UNI from its multisig account to fund monthly sales.<\/p>\n In its latest proposal, DEF pledged to hold onto the funds for at least 12 months from\u00a0the date of\u00a0receipt, in addition to pre-disclosing any sales\u00a0prior to\u00a0offloading UNI moving forward.<\/p>\n DEF said it pays law firms, lobbying organizations, and its employees using U.S. dollars \u2014 necessitating the sale of its UNI holdings.<\/p>\nSour memories<\/h2>\n
Uniswap Foundation\u2019s financials<\/h2>\n