Uniswap DAO to weigh giving ‘underrepresented’ delegates more voting power

The proposal’s author called the voting power boost for active delegates an experiment in accountability for DAOs

article-image

Satheesh Sankaran/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

A group of seven Uniswap DAO delegates who vote over 80% of the time — but possess marginal voting power — moved closer to receiving a voting power boost after a Wednesday temperature check vote. 

The proposal would split 10 million uniswap, worth around $60 million at current prices, among “underrepresented” DAO delegates with less than 2.5 million uniswap. A DAO borne out of Georgia Tech’s blockchain club and the trading firm Wintermute were the two most popular delegates in the temp check. 

The proposal now faces an on-chain vote before delegates would receive uniswap (UNI) from the DAO’s treasury. To be clear, the UNI would not be funds the delegates could spend or trade, but would bump up their share of voting power on future governance matters. 

As with many DAOs, Uniswap’s DAO allows token holders to either vote themselves or delegate their voting power to another wallet address. There are more than 30 delegates with at least 2.5 million delegated votes, the line the proposal sets for “underrepresented.” Variant Fund general partner Jesse Walden is the second-largest delegate with around 8 million tokens.

Read more: Uniswap’s DAO poised to try its hand at venture capital

The governance service provider StableLab authored the delegation proposal and would also receive governance tokens were it to pass. StableLab also proposed and passed a delegation incentive program this week at Rari DAO.

Doo Wan Nam, chief operating officer of StableLab, told Blockworks that the experiment in recognition for active delegates is important for accountability, as delegates who failed to maintain 80% participation would lose the extra votes. 

Wan Nam acknowledged the difficulty in subjectively analyzing whether an active voter is a good voter, though. Are delegates voting flippantly or deeply researching both sides of a proposal? 

“We have to start with something that’s objective,” Wan Nam said. 

The move comes as Uniswap’s voting delegation has been slowly consolidating. A Dune Analytics dashboard shows that in 2023, the number of votes cast per governance proposal has stayed more or less constant while the number of voters participating has generally declined.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Featured.png

Research

Helium stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution as a decentralized wireless network, balancing rapid growth, economic restructuring, and global expansion. With accelerated growth in domestic DAUs and Hotspots supporting its network, Helium is leveraging strategic partnerships and innovative proposals to scale internationally. The recent implementation of HIP 138, “Return to HNT,” has unified its token economy under HNT, simplifying participation and strengthening liquidity, while HIP 139’s phase-out of CBRS refocuses efforts on scalable Wi-Fi offload. Meanwhile, governance shifts under HIP 141 raise questions about centralization as Nova Labs consolidates control over the roadmap.

article-image

The Arbitrum-based perps DEX recently launched its points campaign

article-image

P2P Foundation founder Michel Bauwens revealed this week that Satoshi wrote him over email in the early days of Bitcoin

article-image

A Blockworks Research report looked at how Hyperliquid has maintained its hype and how it can build out its businesses

article-image

Dragonfly’s Rob Hadick discussed how the firm is approaching investments in the current market

article-image

The asset surged over the past seven days to reach its highest-ever weekly close on the SOL/ETH pair

article-image

Industry watchers note that SOL ETFs have attracted a fraction of the demand for bitcoin and ether ETFs