Uniswap Launches Governance Token in Bid to Keep Up With Rival AMM SushiSwap

Decentralized trading platform Uniswap has launched a governance token, UNI, minting 1 billion coins to be released to the public over the next four years.

AccessTimeIconSep 17, 2020 at 12:46 a.m. UTC
Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 9:57 a.m. UTC
10 Years of Decentralizing the Future
May 29-31, 2024 - Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now

Decentralized trading platform Uniswap has launched a governance token, UNI, minting 1 billion coins to be released to the public over the next four years.

  • Announced Wednesday night, the new token will be allocated to Uniswap community members (60% of all tokens), team members/future employees (21.51%), investors (17.8%) and advisers (0.69%).
  • “UNI officially enshrines Uniswap as publicly-owned and self-sustainable infrastructure while continuing to carefully protect its indestructible and autonomous qualities,” the firm wrote.
  • The move comes just a week after Uniswap competitor SushiSwap migrated over $800 million in crypto assets from its rival. Of the two automated market makers (AMMs), the newer SushiSwap had been cast as the more “decentralized” of the pair.
  • SushiSwap launched with a token to enable liquidity mining, and incentivized users to load up on assets prior to the migration to maximize their potential rewards when SushiSwap went fully live.
  • Uniswap will launch a liquidity mining program on Sept. 18, targeting its USDT, USDC, DAI and wBTC pools.
  • While the blog post said Uniswap “team members will not participate directly in governance for the foreseeable future,” it noted that team members could delegate votes to protocol delegates, and all UNI holders will have ownership of the governance process. Tokens dedicated to employees, investors and advisors have a four-year vesting schedule.
  • “A community-managed treasury opens up a world of infinite possibilities,” the blog post said.

Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.


Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.



Read more about