Uniswap<\/a>, the second-largest decentralized crypto exchange (DEX) by trading volume, is nearing $1 trillion in yearly volumes, but holders of the platform\u2019s token say that the success is not being shared with them. UNI holders took to X this week to call out that Uniswap\u2019s soaring metrics have not provided them with payouts, revenue share, or some other structural benefits.<\/p>\n The uproar on X started after Uniswap founder Hayden Adams published a post<\/a> on Sunday, Sept. 21, boasting about the platform\u2019s metrics and saying \u201cAlways funny to see people bear post Uniswap,\u201d adding further that the protocol\u2019s volumes \u201care at all time high\u201d exceeding $1 trillion per year for the first time.<\/p>\n Data from Token Terminal shows<\/a> that Uniswap is nearing the $1 trillion mark for yearly volume, next only to PancakeSwap, which has already surpassed $1.1 trillion in the past year.<\/p>\n Adams\u2019 post sparked an immediate reaction in the crypto community, which wasn\u2019t pleased with how things are unfolding for UNI holders. Arca chief investment officer Jeff Dorman fired back at the Uniswap founder, saying in an X post<\/a> that UNI has become a \u201ccomplete nonsense token in today\u2019s market & changing regulatory environment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEverything you and your VCs stand for is irrelevant. Turn on revenues & buybacks, or don\u2019t bother having a token,\u201d Dorman added in the X post.<\/p>\n Crypto investor Mike Dudas also responded<\/a> to Adams\u2019 post yesterday, saying \u201creasonable to ask why there is no value accrual to the UNI token 5 years post-TGE[.] nearly every other major defi primitive has figured this out by now[.]\u201d<\/p>\n As of press time, Uniswap (UNI<\/a>) is trading at $8.13, down 81.7% from May 2021, when it reached an all-time high at $44.92, according to The Defiant\u2019s price tracking page.<\/p>\n While the argument that the DEX\u2019s high volumes and revenue don\u2019t directly benefit UNI holders was repeated by several prominent commentators, some also pointed out issues with the volumes themselves. <\/p>\n Pseudonymous DeFi analyst jpn memelord wrote in a Monday X post<\/a> that roughly 5% of Q3\u2019s $270 billion in trading volume on Uniswap\u2019s version for Base came from a \u201choneypot network,\u201d or a malicious smart contract that creates tokens that are unsellable<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cThe bots don’t even pay the front end fee to Uniswap Labs, this is just volume for volume’s sake (or potentially money laundering),\u201d the analyst added.<\/p>\n Launched in September 2020, the UNI token mainly functions as a governance tool<\/a>, letting holders vote on fee structures, but so far none of those mechanisms have delivered real economic gains to token holders.<\/p>\n Analysts from The DeFi Report pointed out in a research note<\/a> earlier this year that over 99% of the value created by Uniswap has gone to third parties like liquidity providers, MEV<\/a> bots, and Ethereum validators. Since May 2020, Uniswap has paid over $4.5 billion in trading fees to liquidity providers, Token Terminal data shows<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, Uniswap Labs, the developer of the Uniswap protocol, wasn\u2019t left behind. The DeFi Report notes that the team activated a fee for users trading on Uniswap via the web interface <\/p>\n The report states that the interface fee generated Uniswap Labs $50 million in the first six months of its activation.<\/p>\n In total, all-time fees captured by Uniswap Labs have surpassed $127 million by press time, Token Terminal data shows<\/a>. The DeFi Report analysts also note that UNI holders and investors \u201chave not received any fee revenue to date.\u201d<\/p>\n Uniswap did not immediately reply to The Defiant\u2019s request for comments on the platform\u2019s plans for UNI\u2019s tokenomics. <\/p>\n Technically, the Uniswap Foundation tried to address this issue in early 2024 by letting UNI holders stake their tokens to earn a share of protocol fees.<\/p>\n A Snapshot vote in March showed support<\/a>, but the plan was put on hold after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Wells Notice to Uniswap Labs, alleging it operated as an unregistered securities exchange and that UNI might be considered an unregistered security. Even though the SEC dropped<\/a> its charges in February of this year, the regulatory uncertainty left the initiative stalled.<\/p>\n The DeFi Report analysts suggested that Uniswap\u2019s launch<\/a> of Unichain<\/a>, a Layer 2 protocol on the Optimism Superchain, could eventually allow UNI holders to capture some of the protocol\u2019s economic upside by staking tokens with validators to earn settlement fees and MEV revenue, without taking fees from liquidity providers.<\/p>\n![\"the-defiant\"](\"https:\/\/thedefiant.io\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.thedefiant.io%2Fpasted-1758636550614-png-0db0cf54-e0e6-484c-a917-db2d1daf0beb.png&w=3840&q=100\"\/)
Third Parties Get It All<\/h2>\n
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Focus on Unichain<\/h2>\n
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