Uniswap Labs launches Unichain without UNI unanimity
One of the largest holders of UNI tokens is questioning Uniswap’s decentralization and backroom deal-making, specifically, its claim of “efficiency” as justification for a suite of overhauls, and a possible undisclosed financial interest between Uniswap Labs and another blockchain, Optimism. The Head of Governance at Stanford Crypto, a delegate entrusted with UNI governance tokens from thousands of individuals, threaded a 22-post complaint about Uniswap’s sudden decision to launch its own blockchain, kill its proposed fee switch that might have benefitted holders of UNI, and bypass the ostensibly decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that supposedly governs Uniswap. The hurried launch of Unichain “took many by surprise” and left “delegates in the dark,” wrote Billy Gao, who casts votes on behalf of his sizable delegation. He also noted that the decision “functionally mutated” the ERC-20 contract of UNI, which is “immutable...