Uniswap Labs has called on UNI token holders to approve the next phase of its “UNIfication” burn initiative by voting on incorporating protocol fees across a segment of Uniswap v4 liquidity pools. The voting process began on July 7 and is set to run until July 12. Currently active on 11 blockchains, the program seeks to broaden its scope with these planned updates.
Voting process and program expansion
The process begins with a five-day Snapshot vote, after which an on-chain binding vote is expected to occur during the week of July 13. The proposal seeks to integrate the existing fee and burn mechanism with v4 pools on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Celo, OP Mainnet, Soneium, X Layer, Worldchain, Zora, BNB Chain, and Polygon.
Mini glossary: A Snapshot is an off-chain voting system used by decentralized communities. Although results are not written directly to the blockchain, they serve as an important reference for subsequent binding governance votes.
Uniswap is recognized as one of the world’s largest decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, providing critical infrastructure for decentralized exchanges. If the proposal passes, UNI tokens equivalent in value to the protocol fee collected from transactions will be burned. These tokens will be moved to an irretrievable address on the Ethereum network, permanently removing them from circulation.
Uniswap Labs launched Snapshot voting on July 7 to include v4 pools in the current fee and burn program, with an on-chain vote expected during the week of July 13.
What sets v4 apart?
Unlike the more fixed fee structures of Uniswap v2 and v3 pools, fees in v4 pools can vary from block to block due to its unique “hook” system. This added complexity means v4 integration requires a more advanced architecture. The proposal outlines a dual-contract system to address this challenge.
The first contract establishes the pool’s applicable fee rate, while a secondary contract ensures the enforcement of these policies and transfers the collected fees to the designated address. This modular approach allows governance to adapt policies in the future simply by updating the policy contract, without having to overhaul the entire system.
Three types of v4 pools are covered in the proposal: pools without hooks, pools created through auctions, and pools that leverage aggregator hooks to import external liquidity. For the Base network, the fee is set at 3 basis points, while it’s planned at 10 basis points on other networks. Aggregator hook pools may set fees above the standard cap.
| Network or pool type | Planned fee |
|---|---|
| Base | 3 basis points |
| Other networks | 10 basis points |
| Aggregator hook pools | Above standard cap |
Implications for liquidity providers
With protocol fees in place, a share of user transaction fees would be allocated to Uniswap itself, effectively reducing the returns for liquidity providers. This potential shift has ignited debate over balancing the interests of UNI holders and liquidity providers, who supply capital to the pools.
Guillaume Lambert, head of Panoptic, argued that a tax-like protocol fee structure in v4 could drive away liquidity providers, potentially harming the platform by repeating similar reductions seen in v2 and v3.
Burn metrics and recent ecosystem growth
Last month, Uniswap posted a new daily record by burning 186,000 UNI tokens in a single day, surpassing the previous high of 134,000. As of July 7, UNI trades at $3.23 with a market capitalization of around $2 billion, far below its peak of $44.97 reached in May 2021.
Despite this price gap, Uniswap’s ecosystem continues to expand. At the start of July, the protocol debuted on Robinhood Chain, activating v2, v3, v4, and UniswapX products from day one. In less than a week, Uniswap processed over $250 million in trading volume on the new network.
