Billy Gao, the governance director of Stanford’s cryptocurrency program, recently questioned the decision-making process behind Uniswap’s launch of the Layer2 network, Unichain. He stated that Unichain did not seek the consent of DAO members during the entire launch process, which goes against the decentralized nature of blockchain. He also suggested the possibility of undisclosed transactions or improper relationships with Optimism.
(Unichain’s recent launch: UNI is taking off? Over $360 million in annual fees directly given to Uniswap holders, after the launch of Unichain)
(Background: UNI surges 18%! Uniswap launches its own L2 “Unichain,” contradicting Vitalik Buterin’s prediction from two years ago)
Leading decentralized exchange Uniswap announced on October 10th that it will launch the Layer2 network Unichain, designed specifically for DeFi. Unichain focuses on decentralization, speed, affordability, and allows for multi-chain swaps. Currently, Unichain is live on the testnet, with the mainnet expected to launch later this year.
Community questions Uniswap’s departure from decentralized principles
However, the recent launch of Unichain has sparked dissatisfaction among UNI token holders, as Uniswap did not seek the opinions of the Uniswap community or conduct voting during the announcement and launch process, contradicting the decentralized nature of blockchain.
In response, Billy Gao, the governance director of Stanford’s cryptocurrency program, released a tweet on October 20th expressing the community’s opposition.
Billy Gao explained that the community was initially pleased with Uniswap’s commitment to innovation. However, they were disappointed that as DAO members and UNI token holders, they were not given the opportunity to voice their opinions throughout the entire release process of Unichain. This not only deprived them of their rights to participate in governance but also potentially missed the chance for the community to provide valuable suggestions for Unichain.
Uniswap’s questionable relationship with Optimism?
On the other hand, Billy Gao also expressed skepticism about why Unichain adopted OP Stack technology for its construction. He wrote:
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