Uniswap DAO grants $46.2M to Uniswap Foundation

This funding is the second part of initial funding promised to the NGO following its establishment

October 17, 2023 10:37 am

Brian A Jackson/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

Uniswap Foundation (UF), a non-profit dedicated to supporting the growth and decentralization of the popular Uniswap DEX, will receive $46.2 million from the Uniswap DAO after a funding vote passed quorum.

Upon establishment, the UF received an initial $20 million from the Uniswap DAO to cover significant operating expenses and one year’s worth of grants. With this vote, the Foundation will now receive the additional funds it was promised 6-12 months after its legal establishment.

Uniswap v3 is the largest decentralized exchange by total value locked (TVL) today. Information on DeFiLlama shows it currently has a TVL of almost $2 billion, with a daily transaction volume of roughly $341 million.

“Last year, Uniswap governance approved the creation and initial funding of the Uniswap Foundation. Today we are requesting the remainder of our initial funding to support our next 2 years of work ($46.2M),” the UF wrote in a proposal.

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The proposal, which is scheduled to end voting on Oct. 18, has already passed quorum with an overwhelming majority of uniswap (UNI) token holders voting in favor of handing $46.2 million to the UF.

The UF will be delegated the $46.2 million through a smart contract by the Uniswap DAO. This smart contract will ensure that the DAO has the ability to claw tokens back via an additional vote.

Over the past year, the UF has been focused on providing grants to ecosystem participants. It has so far completed 40 grants and has committed an estimated $4.5 million to different projects, according to a post on X.

Most notably, it assisted in the launch of Oku Trade and Oku API, a frontend designed to offer user experiences that match that of a centralized exchange.

It was also involved in a partnership with Gauntlet to build a Dynamic Incentive Optimization engine to determine incentive strategies for automated market makers (AMMs).

Following the receipt of the rest of its initial funding, the UF will be focused on growing projects that are building hooks on Uniswap v4, as noted in a forum post.

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